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THE DAUGHTER OF 
EMPRESS 


An Gistorical Novel 


BY 
L. MUHLBACH , ®22+<". 


sible sa ated” sale eit: et sd “adler BERLIN AND SANS-SOUGT, 
FREDERICK THE GREAT AND HIS FAMILY, BIC, 


TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY 
NATHANIEL GREENE 


NEW YORK 


THE McCLURE CO. 
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CONTENTS. 





CHAPTER PAGE 
I—Countess Natalie Dolgorucki . . . . . JI 
Ti—Count Mimnich . . « © «© «© © «6 S&S 

IiIl.—Count Ostermann es ae Pe ee eS ae 
IV.—The Night of the Conspiracy . . . . . 80 
V.—Hopes Deceived' . . «+ 8 « © « «' 8 
VI.—The Regent Anna Leopoldowna. . . «. . 44 
Vil—tThe Favorite eee Ua ee Le Cad Ee CA 
VII1L—No Love SAWS! Gee) cece We amie oe! Wee 2, ae 
[X.—Princess Hlisabeth: 0 3 es es i i 
X.—A Conspiracy elias Way Sah aT atAC on ica. eC Re 
XI.—The Warning Sa ea ea oer tan hy ae 
aiL—The Court Ball. 6, <s, s:0: 5 es 8 ycee se yiOl 
XIII.—The Pencil-Sketch el SMA RAD me ee tease te 
XIV.—The Revolution . Plies ver, Derr ele het eee 
XV.—The Sleep of Innocence . . . . « . 189 
AV i—~—The Besompensing® 5 8) oe eh ee 18 
8 ee eer, et ne ae | | 
XVIII.—The Palace of the Empress ee re einhien) >'e, SOP 
XIX.—Eleonore Lapuschkin . . . . .»« « . 178 
en MOO Ce a a ie Ae et we) «. 199 
XXI.—Scenes and Portraits . . . ». «o « «+ 196 
XXII.—Princes also must die. . «.« + «© © «+ 205 
XXIII.—The Charmed Garden. . 2» © «© « « 210 


XXIV.—The Letters. .». + © - 
M 15877 


iv CONTENTS, 


CHAPTER ; PAGE 
XXV.—Diplomatic Quarrels. .  . 
XXVI.—The Fish Feud . ‘ : ‘ ; . ‘ . 246 
XXVIil—Pope Ganganelli (Clement XIV.) . 
XXVIII.—The Pope’s Recreation Hour . ‘ . ‘ - 270 
XXIX.—A Death-Sentence 
XXX.—The Festival of Cardinal Baenis ; 
XXXI.—The Improvisatrice . . . MEAN ere) BOO 
XXXII.—The Departure . Vlas Mee arg ia Ot a 
XXXIII.—An Honest Betrayer. . .« «© © «© « 822% 
RLV A tetin Onloe i) 0) Nelo Yak ig te OO 
XXXV.—Corilla : , : a | 
XXXVI.—The Holy Chafferers. . . .«. -« 
XXXVII.—* Sic transit gloria mundi” . . . . . 886 
XXXVIII.—The Vapo . Say REL Bay CRORE AC p stae St a 
XXXIX.—The Invasion . : : : ‘ 4 : . 868 
XL.—Intrigues . : , ‘ : K ‘ . 3882 
XLI.—The Dooming. Letter ° : ‘ . ° . 3888 
XLII.—The Russian Officer . ‘ ° ‘ : - 0 402 
RET Anentpabion 5 eka eS hy ete 
IE ERG ENG Mee, bak ay NL Hgt Uiuan SIR Teg Cg. tia 7 Saleh Can 
XLV.—The Warning... RN Py ta . ; - 427 
XLVI.—The Russian Fleet . ; : ° . 5 . 442 
ETT CO AMNOD 6 eke las ey evel aU, ee 


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THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


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COUNTESS NATALIE DOLGORUCKI. 


“No, Natalie, weep no more! Quick, dry your tears. 
Let not my executioner see that we can feel pain or weep 
for sorrow!” 

Drying her tears, she attempted a smile, but it was an 
unnatural, painful smile. 

“Tyan,” said she, “we will forget, forget all, excepting 
that we love each other, and thus only can I become cheer- 
ful. And tell me, Ivan, have I not always been in good 
spirits? Have not these long eight years in Siberia passed 
away like a pleasant summer day? Have not our hearts re- 
mained warm, and has not our love continued undisturbed 
by the inclement Siberian cold® You may, therefore, well 
see that I have the courage to bear all that can be borne. 
But you, my beloved, you my husband, to see you die, with 
out being able to save you, without being permitted to die 
with you, is a cruel and unnatural sacrifice! Ivan, let me 
weep; let your murderer see that I yet have tears. Oh, my 
God, I have no longer any pride, I am nothing but a poor 
heart-broken woman! Your widow, I weep over the yet 
living corpse of my husband!” With convulsive sobs the 


9 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


trembling young wife fell upon her knees and with frantic 
grief clung to her husband’s feet. 

Count Ivan Dolgorucki no longer felt the ability to stand 
aloof from her sorrow. He bent down to his wife, raised 
her in his arms, and with her he wept his youth, his lost 
life, the we happiness of his love, and the shame of 

“his fatherland: 
Cha I should joytally go to my death, were it for the bene- 
ne ‘oft my ecuntty,” said he. “But to fall a sacrifice to a 
cabal, to the jealousy of an insidious, knavish favorite, is 
what makes the death-hour fearful. Ah, I die for naught, 
I die that Miinnich, Ostermann, and Biron, may remain 
securely in power. It is horrible thus to die!” 

Natalie’s eyes flashed with a fanatic glow. “ You die,” 
said she, “and I shall live, will live, to see how God will 
avenge you upon these evil-doers. I will live, that I may 
constantly think of you, and in every hour of the day 
address to God my prayers for vengeance and retribu- 
tion!” 

_ “Live and pray for our fatherland!” said Ivan. 

“No,” she angrily cried, “rather let God’s curse rest 
upon this Russia, which delivers over its noblest men to the 
executioner, and raises its ignoblest women to the throne. 
No blessing for Russia, which is cursed in all generations 
and for all time—no blessing for Russia, whose bloodthirsty 
ezarina permits the slaughter of the noble Ivan and his 
brothers!” 

“ Ah,” said Ivan, “how beautiful you now are—how flash 
your eyes, and how radiantly glow your cheeks! Would 
that my executioner were now come, that he might see 


COUNTESS NATALIE DOLGORUCKI. 3 


in you the heroine, Natalie, and not the sorrow-stricken 
woman !” 

“ Ah, your prayer is granted; hear you not the rattling 
of the bolts, the roll of the drum? They are coming, Ivan, 
they are coming!” 

“ Farewell, Natalie—farewell, forever!” 

And, mutually embracing, they took one last, long kiss, 
but wept not. 

“Hear me, Natalie! when they bind me upon the wheel, 
weep not. Be resolute, my wife, and pray that their tor- 
ments may not render me weak, and that no cry may escape 
my lips!” 

“JT will pray, Ivan.” 

In half an hour all was over. The noble and virtuous 
Count Ivan Dolgorucki had been broken upon the wheel, 
and three of his brothers beheaded, and for what ?—Be- 
cause Count Miinnich, fearing that the noble and respected 
brothers Dolgorucki might dispossess him of his usurped 
power, had persuaded the Ozarina Anna that they were 
plotting her overthrow for the purpose of raising Katharina 
Ivanovna to the imperial throne. No proof or conviction 
was required; Miinnich had said it, and that sufficed; the 
Dolgoruckis were annihilated ! 

But Natalie Dolgorucki still lived, and from the bloody 
scene of her husband’s execution she repaired to Kiew. 
There would she live in the cloister of the Penitents, pre- 
serving the memory of the being she loved, and imploring 
the vengeance of Heaven upon his murderers! 

It was in the twilight of a clear summer night when 
Natalie reached the cloister in which she was on the next 


4 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


day to take the vows and exchange her ordinary dress for 
the robe of hair-cloth and the nun’s veil. 

Foaming rushed the Dnieper within its steep banks, 
hissing broke the waves upon the gigantic boulders, and in — 
the air was heard the sound as of howling thunder and a 
roaring storm. : 

“ T will take my leave of nature and of the world,” mur- 
mured Natalie, motioning her attendants to remain at a 
distance, and with firm feet climbing the steep rocky bank . 
of the rushing Dnieper. Upon their knees her servants 
prayed below, glancing up to the rock upon which they saw 
the tall form of their mistress in the moonlight, which sur- 
rounded it with a halo; the stars laid a radiant crown upon 
her pure brow, and her locks, floating in the wind, resembled 
wings ; to her servants she seemed an angel borne upon air 
and light and love upward to her heavenly home! Na- 
talie stood there tranquil and tearless. The thoughtful . 
glances of her large eyes swept over the whole surrounding 
region. She took leave of the world, of the trees and flowers, 
of the heavens and the earth. Below, at her feet, lay the 
cloister, and Natalie, stretching forth her arms toward it, 
exclaimed: “ That is my grave! Happy, blessed Ivan, thou 
diedst ere being coffined ; but I shall be coffined while yet 
alive! Istand here by thy tomb, mine Ivan. They have 
bedded thy noble form in the cold waves of the Dnieper, 
whose rushing and roaring was thy funeral knell, mine 
Ivan! I shall dwell by thy grave, and in the deathlike still- 
ness of my cell shall hear the tones of the solemn hymn with 
which the impetuous stream will rock thee to thine eternal 
rest! Receive, then, ye sacred waves of the Dnieper, receive 


COUNT MUNNICH. 5 


thou, mine Ivan, in thy cold grave, thy wife’s vow of fidelity 
to thee. Again will I espouse thee—in life as in death, am 
I thine!” 

And, drawing from her finger the wedding-ring which 
her beloved husband had once placed upon it, she threw it 
into the foaming waves.* 

Bending down, she saw the ring sinking in the waters 
and murmured: “I greet thee, Ivan, I greet thee! Take 
my ring—forever am | thine!” 

Then, rising proudly up, and stretching forth her arms 
toward heaven, she exclaimed aloud: “I now go to pray 
that God may send thee vengeance. Woe to Russia, woe!” 
and the stream with its boisterous waves howled and thun- 
dered after her the words: “ Woe to Russia, woe!” 


CHAPTER II. 


COUNT MUNNIOCH. 


THE Empress Anna was dead, and—an unheard-of case 
in Russian imperial history—she had even died a natural 
death. Again was the Russian imperial throne vacated ! 
Who is there to mount it? whom has the empress named as 
der successor? No one dared to speak of it; the question 
was read in all eyes, but no lips ventured to open for the 
utterance of an answer, as every conjecture, every expression, 
if unfounded and unfulfilled, would be construed into the 


* “ Notice sur les Principales Familles de la Russie. Par le Prince 
Pierre Dolgorouky,” p. 30. 


6 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


crime of high-treason as soon as another than the one thus 
indicated should be called to the throne! 

Who will obtain that throne? So asked each man in his 
heart. The courtiers and great men of the realm asked it 
with shuddering and despair. For, to whom should they 
now go to pay their homage and thus recommend themselves 
to favor in advance? Should they go to Biron, the Duke of 
‘Courland? Was it not possible that the dying empress had 
chosen him, her warmly-beloved favorite, her darling minion, 
‘as her successor to the throne of all the Russias? But how 
it she had not done so? If, instead, she had chosen her 
niece, the wife of Prince Anton Ulrich, of Brunswick, 
as her successor? Or was it not also possible that she had 
declared the Princess Elizabeth, the daughter of Czar 
Peter the Great, as empress? The latter, indeed, had the 
greatest, the most incontestable right to the imperial 
throne of Russia; was she not the sole lawful heir of 
her father? How, if one therefore went to her and con- 
gratulated her as empress? But if one should make a 
mistake, how then? 

The courtiers, as before said, shuddered and _ hesitated, 
and, in order to avoid making a mistake, did nothing at all. 
‘They remained in their palaces, ostensibly giving themselves 
up to deep mourning for the decease of the beloved czarina, 
whom every one of them secretly hated so long as she was 
yet alive. 

There were but a few who were not in uncertainty re- 
‘specting the immediate future, and conspicuous among that 
few was Field-Marshal Count Minnich. 


While all hesitated and wavered in anxious doubt, Miin- 


COUNT MUNNICH. v4 


nich alone was calm. He knew what was coming, because 
he had had a hand in shaping the event. 

“ Oh,” said he, while walking his room with folded arms, 
“we have at length attained the object of our wishes, and 
this bright emblem for which I have so long striven will 
now finally become mine. I shall be the ruler of this land, 
and in the unrestricted exercise of royal power I shall be- 
hold these millions of venal slaves grovelling at my feet, and 
whimpering for a glance or a smile. Ah, how sweet is this 
governing power ! 

“ But,” he then continued, with a darkened brow, 
“what is the good of being the ruler if I cannot bear the 
name of ruler?—what is it to govern, if another is to be 
publicly recognized as regent and receive homage as such? 
The kernel of this glory will be mine, but the shell,—I also 
languish for the shell. But no, this is not the time for 
such thoughts, now, when the circumstances demand a 

“cheerful mien and every outward indication of satisfaction ! 
My time will also come, and, when it comes, the shell as 
well as the kernel shall be mine! But this is the hour for 
waiting upon the Duke of Courland! I shall be the first 
to wish him joy, and shall at the same time remind him 
that he has given me his ducal word that he will grant the 
first request I shall make to him as regent. Well, well, I 
will ask now, that I may hereafter command.” 

The field-marshal ordered his carriage and proceeded to 
the palace of the Duke of Courland. 

A deathlike stillness prevailed in the streets through 
which he rode. On every hand were to be seen only cur- 
tained windows and closed palaces; it seemed as if this usu- 


8 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


ally so brilliant and noisy quarter of St. Petersburg had 
suddenly become deserted and desolate. The usual equi- 
pages, with their gold and silver-laced attendants, were no- 
where to be seen. 

The count’s carriage thundered through the deserted 
streets, but wherever he passed curious faces were seen peep- 
ing from the curtained windows of the palaces; all doors 
were hastily opened behind him, and he was followed by 
the runners of the counts and princes, charged with the 
duty of espying his movements. 

Count Miinnich saw all that, and smiled. 

“JT have now given them the signal,” said he, “and 
this servile Russian nobility will rush hither, like fawning 
hounds, to bow before a new idol and pay it their venal 
homage.” 

The carriage now stopped before the palace of the Duke 
of Courland, and with an humble and reverential mien 
Miinnich ascended the stairs to the brilliant apartments of 
Biron. | 

He found the duke alone; absorbed in thought, he was 
standing at the window looking down into streets which 
were henceforth to be subjected to his sway. 

“Your highness is surveying your realm,” said Min- 
nich, with a smile. ‘“ Wait but a little, and you will soon 
see all the great nobility flocking here to pay you homage. 
My carriage stops before your door, and these sharp-scent- 
ing hounds now know which way to turn with their abject 
adoration.” 

“ Ah,” sadly responded Biron, “I dread the coming 
hour. I have a misfortune-prophesying heart, and this 


—————— re rl hh er OOO 
2 


ee = 


COUNT MUNNICH. 9 


night, in a dream, I saw myself in a miserable hut, covered 
with beggarly rags, shivering with cold and fainting with 
hunger!” : 

“That dream indicates prosperity and happiness, your 
highness,” laughingly responded Miinnich, “for dreams 
are always interpreted by contraries. You saw yourself 
as a beggar because you were to become our ruler—be- 
cause a purple mantle will this day be placed upon your 
shoulders.” 

“ Blood also is purple,” gloomily remarked the duke, 
“and a sharp poniard may also convert a beggar’s blouse 
into a purple mantle! Oh, my friend, would that I had 
never become what I am! One sleeps ill when one must 
constantly watch his happiness lest it escape him. And 
think of it, my fortunes are dependent upon the eyes of 
a child, a rurseling, that with its mother’s milk imbibes 
hatred to me, and whose first use of speech will be, perhaps, 
to curse me!” 

“ Then it must be your task to teach the young emperor 
Ivan to speak,” exclaimed Minnich—“ in that case he will 
learn to bless you.” 

“T shall not be able to snatch him from his parents,” 
said Biron. “ But those parents certainly hate me, and 
indeed very naturally, as they, it seems, were, next to 
me, designated as the guardians of their son Ivan. The 
Duchess Anna Leopoldowna of Brunswick is ambitious.” 

“ Bah! for the present she is in love,” exclaimed Miin- 
nich, with a laugh, “and women, when in love, think of 
nothing but their love. But only look, your highness, did 
I not prophesy correctly? Only see the numerous equi- 

2 


10 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


pages now stopping before your door! The street will soon 
be too narrow to contain them.” 

And in the street below was really to be seen the rapid 
arrival of a great number of the most splendid equipages, 
from which alighted beautiful and richly-dressed women, 
whose male companions were covered with orders, and who 
were all hastening into the palace. There was a pressing 
and pushing which produced the greatest possible confu- 
sion. Every one wished to be the first to congratulate the 
new ruler, and to assure him of their unbounded devotion. 

The duke’s halls were soon filled with Russian magnates, 
and when at length the duke himself made his appearance 
among them, he everywhere saw only happy, beaming faces, 
and encountered only glances of love and admiration. The 
warmest wishes of all these hundreds seemed to have been 
fulfilled, and Biron was precisely the man whom all had 
desired for their emperor. 

And, standing in the centre of these halls, they read to 
Biron the testament of the deceased Empress Anna: that 
testament designated Ivan, the son of the Duchess Anna 
Leopoldowna and Prince Ulrich of Brunswick, as emperor, 
and him, Duke Biron of Courland, as absolute regent of the 
empire during the minority of the emperor, who had now 
just reached the age of seven months. The joy of the mag- 
nates was indescribable; they sank into each other’s arms 
with tears of joy. At this moment old enemies were recon- 
ciled; women who had long nourished a mutual hatred, 
now tenderly pressed each other’s hands; tears of joy were 
trembling in eyes which had never before been known to 
weep; friendly smiles were seen on lips which had usually 


COUNT MUNNICH. 11 


been curled with anger; and every one extolled with ecstasy 
the happiness of Russia, and humbly bowed before the new 
sun now rising over that blessed realm. 

With the utmost enthusiasm they all took the oath of 
fidelity to the new ruler, and then hastened to the palace 
of the Prince of Brunswick, there with the humblest sub- 
jection to kiss the delicate little hand of the child-emperor 
Ivan. 

Miinnich was again alone with the duke, who, forgetting 
all his ill-boding dreams, now gave himself up to the proud 
feeling of his greatness and power. : 

* Let them all go,” said he, “ these magnates, to kiss the 
hand of this emperor of seven months, and wallow in the 
dust before the cradle of a whimpering nurseling! I shall 
nevertheless be the real emperor, and both sceptre and crown 
will remain in my hands!” 

“But in your greatness and splendor you will not for- 
get your faithful and devoted friends,” said Miinnich; 
“your highness will remember that it was I who chiefly 
induced the empress to name you as regent during the 
minority of Ivan, and that you gave me your word of 
honor that you would grant me the first request I should 
make to you.” 

“T know, I know,” said Biron, with a sly smile, thought- 
fully pacing the room with his hands behind his back. 
But, suddenly stopping, he remained standing before 
Minnich, and, looking him sharply in the eye, said: “ Shall 
I for once interpret your thoughts, Field-Marshal Count 
Miinnich? Shall I for once tell you why you used all your 
influence to decide the Empress Anna to name me for the 


12 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


regency? Ah, you had a sharp eye, a sure glance, and con- 
sequently discovered that Anna had long since resolved in 
her heart to name me for the regency, before you under- 
took to confirm her in this resolve by your sage counsels. 
But you said to yourself: ‘This good empress loves the 
Duke of Courland; hence she will undoubtedly desire to 
render him great and happy in spite of all opposition, and if 
I aid in this by my advice I shall bind both parties to my- 
self; the empress, by appearing to be devoted to her favorite, 
and the favorite, by aiding him in the accomplishment of 
his ambitious plans. I shall therefore secure my own posi- 
tion, both for the present and future!’ Confess to me, field- 
marshal, that these were your thoughts and calculations.” 

“The regent, Sir Duke of Courland, has a great knowl- 
edge of human nature, and hence I dare not contradict 
him,” said Miinnich, with a constreiced laugh. “ Your 
highness therefore recognizes the service that I, from what- 
ever motive, have rendered you, and hence you will not re- 
fuse to grant my request.” 

“Let me hear it,” said the duke, stretching himself out 
on a divan, and negligently playing with a portrait of the 
Empress Anna, splendidly ornamented with brilliants, and 
suspended from his neck by a heavy gold chain. 

“Name me generalissimo of all the troops,” said 
Minnich, with solemnity. 

“Of all the troops?” asked Biron. “Including those 
on the water, or only those on land?” 

« The troops on the water as well as those on land.” * 


* Levecque, “ Histoire de la Russie,” vol. v., p. 209, 


COUNT MUNNICH. 13 


“ Ah, that means, I am to give you unlimited power, 
and thus place you at the head of all affairs!” Then, sud- 
denly rising from his reclining position, and striding di- 
rectly to Miinnich, the duke threateningly said: “In my 
first observation I forgot to interpret a few of your thoughts 
and plans. I will now tell you why you wished for my ap- 
pointment as regent. You desired it for the advancement 
of your own ambitious plans. You knew Biron as an 
effeminate, yielding, pleasure-seeking favorite of the em- 
press—you saw him devoted only to amusement and en- 
joyment, and you said to yourself: ‘That is the man I 
need. As I cannot myself be made regent, let it be him! 
I will govern through him; and while this voluptuous de- 
votee of pleasure gives himself up to the intoxication of 
enjoyments, I will rule in his stead.’ Well, Mr. Field-Mar- 
shal, were not those your thoughts?” 

Miinnich had turned very pale while the duke was thus 
speaking, and a sombre inquietude was depicted on his 
features. 

“T know not,” he stammered, with embarrassment. 

“But J know!” thundered the duke, “and in your 
terror-struck face I read the confirmation of what I have 
said. Look in the glass, sir count, and you will make no 
further attempt at denial.” 

“But the question here is not about what I might have 
once thought, but of what you promised me. Your high- 
ness, I have made my first request! It is for you to grant 
it. I implore you on the strength of your ducal word to 
name me as the generalissimo of your troops!” 

“ No, never!” exclaimed the duke. 


14 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


“You gave me your word!” 

“T gave it as Duke of Courland! The regent is not 
bound by the promise of the duke.” 

“‘T made you regent!” 

«“ And I do not make you generalissimo ! ” 

“ You forfeit your word of honor?” 

“No, ask something else, and I will grant it. But this 
is not feasible. I must myself be the generalissimo of my 
own troops, or I should no longer be the ruler! Ask, 
therefore, for something else.” 

Miinnich was silent. His features indicated a frightful 
commotion, and his bosom heaved violently. 

“JT have nothing further to ask,” said he, after a 
pause. 

“But I will confer upon you a favor without your ask- 
ing it!” proudly responded the duke. “Count Minnich, 
I confirm you in your offices and dignities, and, to prove to 
you my unlimited confidence, you shall continue to be what 
you were under the Empress Anna, field-marshal in the 
Russian army!” 

“T thank you, sir duke,” calmly replied Minnich. “ It 
is very noble in you that you do not send me into banish- 
ment for my presumptuous demand.” 

Clasping the offered hand of the duke, he respectfully 
pressed it to his lips. 

“ And now go, to kiss the hand of the young emperor, 
that you may not be accused of disrespect,” smilingly added 
Biron ; “ one must always preserve appearances.” 

Miinnich silently bowed, while walking backward to- 
ward the door. 


COUNT OSTERMANN, 15 


“We part as friends?” asked the duke, nodding an 
adieu. 

“ As friends for life and death!” said Mimnnich, with a 
smile. ; 

But no sooner had the door closed behind him than the 
smile vanished from his features, and was replaced by an 
expression of furious rage. He threateningly shook his fist 


. toward the door which separated him from the duke, and 


with convulsively compressed lips and grating teeth he 
said: “ Yos, we now part as friends, but we shall yet meet 
as enemies! I shall remember this hour, sir duke, and 
shall do my best to prevent your forgetting it. Ah, you 
have not sent me to Siberia, but I will send you there! 
And now to the Emperor Ivan. I shall there meet his 
parents, the shamefully-slighted Ulrich of Brunswick, and 
his wife Anna Leopoldowna. I think they will welcome 
me.” 

With a firm step, rage and vengeance in his heart, but 
outwardly smiling and submissive, Field-Marshal Count 
Miinnich betook himself to the palace of the Duke of 
Brunswick to kiss the hand of the cradled Emperor Ivan. 


CHAPTER III. 


COUNT OSTERMANN. 


Four weeks had passed since Biron, Duke of Courland, 
had commenced his rule over Russia, as regent, in the name 
of the infant Emperor Ivan. The Russian people had 


16 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


with indifference submitted to this new ruler, and mani- 
fested the same subjection to him as to his predecessor. It 
was all the same to them whoever sat in godlike splendor 
upon the magnificent imperial throne—what care that mass 
of degraded slaves, who are crawling in the dust, for the 
name by which their tyrants are called? They remain 
what they are, slaves; and the one upon the throne remains 
what he is, their absolute lord and tyrant, who has the right . 
to-day to scourge them with whips, to-morrow to make 
them barons and counts, and perhaps the next day to send 
them to Siberia, or subject them to the infliction of the 
fatal knout. Whoever proclaims himself emperor or dicta- 
tor, is greeted by the Russian people, that horde of creep- 
ing slaves, as their lord and master, the supreme disposer of 
life and death, while they crawl] in the dust at his feet. 

They had sworn allegiance to the Regent Biron, as they 
had to the Empress Anna; they threw themselves upon the 
earth when they met him, they humbly bared their heads 
when passing his palace; and when the magnates of the 
realm, the princes and counts of Russia, in their proud equi- 
pages, discovered the regent’s carriage in the distance, they 
ordered a halt, descended from their vehicles, and bowed 
themselves to the ground before their passing lord. In 
Russia, all distinctions of rank cease in the presence of the 
ruler; there is but one lord, and one trembling slave, be he 
prince or beggar, and that lord must be obeyed, whether he 
commands a murder or any other crime. The word and 
will of the emperor purify and sactify every act, blessing it 
and making it honorable. 

Biron was emperor, although he bore only the name of 


COUNT OSTERMANN, 17 


regent; he had the power and the dominion; the infant 
nurseling Ivan, the minor emperor, was but a shadow, a 
phantom, having the appearance but not the reality of lord- 
ship; he was a thing unworthy of notice; he could make 
no one tremble with fear, and therefore it was unnecessary 
to crawl in the dust before him. 

Homage was paid to the Regent Biron, Duke of Cour- 
land; the palace of Prince Ulrich of Brunswick, and his 
son, the Emperor Ivan, stood empty and desolate. No one 
regarded it, and yet perhaps it was worthy of regard. 

Yet many repaired to this quiet, silent palace, to know 
whom Biron would perhaps have given princedoms and 
millions! But no one was there to betray them to the 
regent; they were very silent and very cautious in the pal- 
ace of the Prince of Brunswick and his wife the Princess 
Anna Leopoldowna. 

It was, as we have said, about four weeks after the com- 
mencement of the regency of the Duke of Courland, when 
a sedan-chair was set down before a small back door of the 
Duchess Anna Leopoldowna’s palace; it had been borne 
and accompanied by four serfs, over whose gold-embroid- 
ered liveries, as if to protect them from the weather, had 
been laid a tolerably thick coat of dust and sweat. Equally 
splendid, elegant, and unclean was the chair which the serv- 
ants now opened for the purpose of aiding their age-enfee- 
bled master to emerge from it. That person, who now made 
his appearance, was a shrunken, trembling, coughing old 
gentleman ; his small, bent, distorted form was wrapped in 
a fur cloak which, somewhat tattered, permitted a soiled 
and faded under-dress to make itself perceptible, giving to 


18 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


the old man the appearance of indigence and slovenliness. 
Nothing, not even the face, or the thin and meagre hands 
he extended to his servants, was neat and cleanly ; nothing 
about him shone but his eyes, those gray, piercing eyes 
with their fiery side-glances and their now kind and now 
sly and subtle expression. This ragged and untidy old man 
might have been taken for a beggar, had not his dirty fin- 
gers and his faded neck-tie, whose original color was hardly 
discoverable, flashed with brilliants of an unusual size, and 
had not the arms emblazoned upon the door of his chair, in 
spite of the dust and dirt, betrayed a noble rank. The arms 
were those of the Ostermann family, and this dirty old man 
in the ragged cloak was Count Ostermann, the famous Rus- 
sian statesman, the son of a German preacher, who had 
managed by wisdom, cunning, and intrigue to continue in 
place under five successive Russian emperors or regents, 
most of whom had usually been thrust from power by some 
bloody means. Ozar Peter, who first appointed him as a 
minister of state, and confided to him the department of 
foreign affairs, on his death-bed said to his successor, the 
first Catharine, that Ostermann was the only one who had 
never made a false step, and recommended him to his wife | 
as a prop to theempire. Catharine appointed him imperial 
chancellor and tutor of Peter II.; he knew how to secure 
and preserve the favor of both, and the successor of Peter 
II., the Empress Anna, was glad to retain the services of 
the celebrated statesman and diplomatist who had so faith- 
fully served her predecessors. From Anna he came to her 
favorite, Baron of Courland, who did not venture to remove 
one whose talents had gained for him so distinguished a 


COUNT OSTERMANN. 19 


reputation, and who in any case might prove a very dan- 
gerous enemy. 

But with Count Ostermann it had gone as with Count 
Mimnich. Neither of them had been able to obtain from 
the regent any thing more than a confirmation of their 
offices and dignities, to which Biron, jealous of power, had 
been unwilling to make any addition. Deceived in their 
expectations, vexed at this frustration of their plans, they 
had both come to the determination to overthrow the man 
who was unwilling to advance them; they had become. 
Biron’s enemies because he did not show himself their 
friend, and, openly devoted to him and bowing in the dust 
before him, they had secretly repaired to his bitterest ene- 
my, the Duchess Anna Leopoldowna, to offer her their serv- 
ices against the haughty regent who swayed the iron scep- 
tre of his despotic power over Russia.* 

A decisive conversation was this day to be held with the 
duchess and her husband, Prince Ulrich of Brunswick, and 
therefore, an unheard-of case, had even Count Ostermann 
resolved to leave his dusty room for some hours and repair 
to the palace of the Duchess Anna Leopoldowna. 

“Slowly, slowly, ye knaves,” groaned Ostermann, as he 
ascended the narrow winding stairs with the aid of his serv- 
ants.” “See you not, you hounds, that every one of your 
movements causes me insufferable pain? Ah, a fearful ill- 
ness is evidently coming; it is already attacking my limbs, 
and pierces and agonizes every part of my system! Let my 
bed be prepared at home, you scamps, and have a strength- 


* Levecque, “ Histoire de Russie,” vol. v., p. 241. 


20 . THE DAUGHTER OF AN. EMPRESS. 


ening soup made ready for me. And now away, fellows, 
and woe to you if, during my absence, either one of you 
should dare to break into the store-room or wine-cellar! 
You know that I have good eyes, and am cognizant of every 
article on hand, even to its exact weight and measure. 
Take care, therefore, take care! for if but an ounce of meat 
or a glass of wine is missing, I will have you whipped, 
you hounds, until the blood flows. That you may depend 
upon!” 

And, dismissing his assistants with a kick, Count Oster- 
mann ascended the last steps of the winding stairs alone 
and unaided. But, before opening the door at the head of 
the stairs, he took time for reflection. 

“Hem! perhaps it would have been better for me to 
have been already taken ill, for if this plan should miscarry, 
and the regent discover that I was in this palace to-day, 
how then? Ah, I already seem to feel a draught of Sibe- 
rian air! But no, it will succeed, and how would that am- 
bitious Miinnich triumph should it succeed without me! 
No, for this time I must be present, to the vexation of 
Miinnich, that he may not put all Russia in his pocket! 
The good man has such large pockets and such grasping 
hands!” 

Nodding and smiling to himself, Ostermann opened 
the door of the anteroom. A rapid, searching glance sat- 
isfied him that he was alone there, but his brow darkened 
when he observed Count Miinnich’s mantle lying upon a 
chair. 

“ Ah, he has preceded me,” peevishly murmured Oster- 
mann. “ Well, well, we can afford once more to yield the 


COUNT OSTERMANN, 21 


precedence to him. To-day he—to-morrow I! My turn 
will come to-morrow!” 

Quite forgetting his illness and his pretended pains, he 
rapidly crossed the spacious room, and, throwing his ragged 
fur cloak upon Miinnich’s mantle, said: 

“ A poor old cloak like this is yet in condition to render 
that resplendent uniform invisible. Not a spangle of that 
magnificent gold embroidery can be seen, it is all over- 
shadowed by the ragged old cloak which Miinnich so much 
despises! Oh, the good field-marshal will rejoice to find 
his mantle in such good company, and I hope my old cloak 
may leave some visible memento upon its embroidered com- 
panion. Well, the field-marshal is a brave man, and I have 
given him an opportunity to make a campaign against his 
own mantle! The fool, why does he dislike these good 
little animals, and would yet be a Russian !” 

As, however, he opened the door of the next room, his 
form again took its former shrunken, frail appearance, and 
his features again bore the expression of suffering and ex- 
haustion. 

“ Ah, it is you,” said Prince Ulrich, advancing to meet 
the count, while Miimnich stood near a writing-table, in 
earnest conversation with Anna Leopoldowna, to whom he 
seemed to be explaining something upon a sheet of paper. 

“We have waited long for you, my dear count,” con- 
tinued the prince, offering his hand to the new-comer, with 
a smile. 

“The old and the sick always have the misfortune to 
arrive too late,” said Count Ostermann, “pain and suffer- 
ing are such hinderances, your grace. And, moreover, I 


92, THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


have come only in obedience to the wishes of your highness, 
well knowing, that I am superfluous here. What has the 
feeble old man to do in the councils of the strong?” 

“ To represent wisdom in council,” said the prince, “ and 
for that, you are precisely the man, count.” 

“Ah, Count Ostermann,” at this moment interposed 
Minnich, “it is well you have come. You will be best 
able to tell their excellencies whether I am right or 
not.” 

“ Field-Marshal Minnich is always right,” said Oster- 
mann, with a pleasant smile. “I unconditionally say ‘ yes’ 
to whatever you may have proposed, provided that it is not 
a proposition of which my judgment cannot approve.” 

“That is a very conditional yes ! ” exclaimed the duchess, 
laughing. 

“ A ‘yes,’ all perforated with little back doors through 
which a ‘no’ may conveniently enter,” laughed the prince. 

“The back doors are in all cases of the greatest impor- 
tance,” said Count Ostermann, earnestly. “ Through back 
doors one often attains to the rooms of state, and had your 
palace here accidentally had no back door for the admission 
of us, your devoted servants, who knows, your highness 
Anna, whether you would on this very night become re- 
gent!” 

“ On this night!” suddenly exclaimed Mtinnich. “ You 
see, your highness, that Count Ostermann is wholly of my 
opinion. It must be done this night!” 

“That would be overhaste,” cried the duchess; ‘* we are 
not yet prepared !” 

“Nor is the regent, Biron of Courland,” thoughtfully 


COUNT OSTERMANN. 93 


interposed Ostermann ; “ and, therefore, our overhaste would 
take Biron by surprise.” 

“ Decidedly my opinion,” said Miinnich. “ All is lost if 
we give the regent time and leisure to make his arrange- 
ments. Ifwedo not annihilate him to-day, he may, per- 
haps, send us to Siberia to-morrow.” 

The duchess turned pale; a trembling ran through her 
tall, noble form. 

“T so much dread the shedding of blood! ” said she. 

“Oh, I am not at all vain,” said Ostermann. “I find it 
much less unpleasant to see the blood of others flowing than 
my own. It may be egotism, but I prefer keeping my blood 
in my veins to exposing it to the gaping curiosity of an as- 
tonished crowd !” 

“ You think, then, that he already suspects, and would 
murder us?” 

* You, us, and also your son, the Emperor Ivan.” 

* Also my son!” exclaimed Leopoldowna, her eyes flash- 
ing like those of an enraged lioness. ‘“ Ah, I should know 
how to defend my son. Let Biron fall this night!” 

“So be it!” unanimously exclaimed the three men. 

“ He has driven us to this extremity,” said the princess. 
“ Not enough that he has banished our friends and faithful 
servants, surrounding us with his miserable creatures and 
spies—not enough that he wounds and humiliates us in 
every way—he would rend the young emperor from us, his 
parents, his natural protectors. We are attacked in our 
holiest rights, and must, therefore, defend ourselves.” 

“ But what shall we do with this small Biron, when he 
is no longer the great regent?” asked Ostermann. 


94 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


‘We will make him by a head smaller,” said Minnich, 
laughing. 

“No,” vehemently exclaimed Leopoldowna—“ no, no 
blood shall flow! Not with blood shall our own and our 
son’s rights be secured! Swear this, gentlemen, or I will 
never give my consent to the undertaking.” 

“IT well knew that your highness would so decide,” said 
Minnich, with a smile, drawing a folded paper from his 
bosom. “In proof of which I hand this paper to your 
highness.” 

“Ah, what is this?” said the duchess, unfolding the 
paper; “it is the ground plan of a house!” 

“ Of the house we will have built for Biron in Siberia,” 
said Miinnich; “I have drawn the plan myself.” * 

“Tn fact, you are a skilful architect, Count Minnich,” 
said Ostermann, laughing, while casting an interrogating 
glance at the paper which Anna was still thoughtfully ex- 
amining. ‘ How well you have arranged it all! How de- 
lightful these snug little chambers will be! There will be 
just space enough in them to turn around in. But these 
small chambers seem to be a little too low. They are evi- 
dently not more than five feet high. As Biron, however, 
has about your height, he will not be able to stand upright 
in them.” 

“ Bah! for that very reason!” said Miinnich, with a 
eruel laugh. “He has carried his head high long enough; 
now he may learn to bow.” 

“But that will be a continual torment!” exclaimed the 

Duke of Brunswick. 


* Levecque, vol. v., p. 214. 


COUNT OSTERMANN. 95 


“Oh, has he not tormented us?” angrily responded 
Minnich. “ We need reprisals.” 

“ How strange and horrible!” said Anna Leopoldowna, 
shuddering ; “ this man is now standing here clothed with 
unlimited power, and we are already holding in our hands 
the plan of his prison |” 

“ Yes, yes, and with this plan in his pocket will Count 
Miinnich now go to dine with Biron and enjoy his hospi- 
tality!” laughingly exclaimed Ostermann. “ Ah, that must 
make the dinner particularly piquant! How agreeable it 
must be to press the regent’s hand, and at the same time 
feel the rustling in your pocket of the paper upon which 
you have drawn the plan of his Siberian prison! But you 
are in the right. The regent has deeply offended you. How 
could he dare refuse to make you his generalissimo ?” 

“ Ah, it is not for that,” said Miinnich with embarrass- 
ment; and, seeking to give the conversation a different turn, 
he continued—“ ah, see, Count Ostermann, what a terrible 
animal is crawling there upon your dress!” 

“ Policy, nothing but policy,” tranquilly responded Os- 
termann, while the princess turned away with an expression 
of repugnance. 

“Well,” cried the prince, laughing, “explain to us, 
Count Ostermann, what those disgusting insects have to do 
with policy or politics?” 

“We are all four Germans,” said Ostermann, “and con- 
sequently are all familiar with the common saying, ‘ Tell 
me the company you keep, and I will tell you what you 
are!’ I have always kept that in mind since I have been 


in Russia; and to make this good people forget that I am a 
8 


26 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


foreigner, I have taken particular pains to furnish myself 
with a supply of their dirt and of these delicate insects. If 
any one asks me who I am, I show him these creatures with 
whom I associate, and he immediately concludes that Iama 
Russian.” 

Ostermann joined in the laugh that followed this ex- 
planation, but suddenly he uttered a piercing cry, and sank 
down upon a chair. 

“‘ Ah, these pains will be the death of me!” he moaned 
—‘ ah, I already feel the ravages of death in my blood ; yes, 
I have long known that a dangerous malady was hovering 
over me, and my death-bed is already prepared at-home! I 
am a poor failing old man, and who knows whether I shall 
outlive the evening of this day?” 

While Ostermann was thus lamenting, and the prince 
with kindly sympathy was occupied about him, Minnich 
had returned the drawing to his pocket, and was speaking 
in a low tone to the duchess of some yet necessary prepara- 
tions for the night. Count Ostermann, notwithstanding 
his lamentations and his pretended pains, had yet a sharp 
ear for every word they spoke. He very distinctly heard 
the duchess say: “ Well, I am satisfied! I shall expect you 
at about two o’clock in the morning, and if the affair is 
successful, you, Count Miinnich, may be sure of my most 
fervent gratitude; you will then have liberated Russia, 
the young emperor, and myself, from a cruel and despotic. 
tyrant, and I shall be eternally beholden to you.” 

Count Minnich’s brow beamed with inward satisfaction. 
“T shall, then, attain my ends,” thought he. Aloud he 
said: “ Your highness, [ have but one wish and one re 


COUNT OSTERMANN, 27 


quest ; if you are willing to fulfil this, then will there be 
nothing left on earth for me to desire.” 

‘Then name your request at once, that I may grant it 
in advance!” said the princess, with a smile. 

“The man is getting on rapidly, and will even now get 
the appointment of generalissimo,” thought Ostermann. 
“ That must never be; I must prevent it!” 

And just as Miinnich was opening his mouth to prefer 
his request, Ostermann suddenly uttered so loud and pite- 
ous a cry of anguish that the compassionate and alarmed 
_ princess hastened to offer him her sympathy and aid. 

At this moment the clock upon the wall struck four. 
That was the hour for which Minnich was invited to dine 
with the regent. It would not do to fail of his engage- 
ment to-day—he must be punctual, to avoid exciting sus- 
picion. He, therefore, had no longer the time to lay his 
request before the princess; consequently Count Ostermann 
had accomplished his object, and secretly triumphing, he 
loudly groaned and complained of his sufferings. 

Count Minnich took his leave. 

“T go now,” he smilingly said, “to take my last dinner 
with the Duke of Courland. I shall return this night at 
the appointed hour. We shall then convert the duke into 
a Siberian convict, which, at all events, will be a very in- 
teresting operation.” 

Thus he departed, with a horrible laugh upon his lips, 
to keep his appointment with the regent. 

Count Ostermann had again attained his end—he re- 
mained alone with the princely pair. Had Miinnich been 
the first who came, Ostermann was the last to go. 


28 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


“ Ah,” said he, rising with apparent difficulty, “I will 
now bear my old, diseased body to my dwelling, to repose 
and perhaps to die upon my bed of pain.” 

“ Not to die, I hope,” said Anna. 

“ You must live, that you may see us in our greatness,” 
said the prince. 

Ostermann feebly shook his head. “TI see, I see it all,” 
said he. ‘“ You will liberate yourself from one tyrant, your 
highness, to become the prey of another. The eyes of the 
dying see clear, and I tell you, duchess, you were already on 
the point of giving away the power you have attained. 
Know you what Miinnich’s demand will be?” 

“Well?” 

“He will demand what Biron refused him, and for 
which refusal Miinnich became his enemy. He will ask _ 
you to appoint him generalissimo of all your forces by land 
and sea.” 

“Then will he demand what naturally belongs to 
me,” said the prince, excitedly, “and we shall of course 
refuse it.” 

“ Yes, we must refuse it,” repeated the princess. 

“ And in that you will do well,” said Count Ostermann. 
“T may venture to say so, as I have no longer the least am- 
bition—death will soon relieve me from all participation in 
affairs of state. I am a feeble old man, and desire nothing 
more than to be allowed occasionally to impart good 
counsels to my benefactors. And this is now my advice: 
Guard yourselves against the ambition of Count Miinnich.” 

“We shall bear your counsel in mind,” said the prince. 

* We will not appoint him generalissimo!” exclaimed 


COUNT OSTERMANN. 99 


the princess. ‘“ He must never forget that he is our serv- 
ant, and we his masters.” 

“ And now permit me to go, your highness,” said Oster- 
mann. “ Will you have the kindness, prince, to command 
your lackeys to bear me to my sedan-chair? It is impos- 
sible for me to walk a step. Yes, yes, while you are this 
night contending for a throne. I shall, perhaps, be strug- 
gling with death.” 

And with a groan, sinking back into the arms of the 
lackeys whom the prince had called, Ostermann suffered 
himself to be carried down to his chair, which awaited him 
at the door. He groaned and cried out as they placed him 
in it, but as soon as its doors were closed and his serfs 
were trotting with him toward his own palace, the suffer- 
ing expression vanished from Ostermann’s face, and a sly 
smile of satisfaction played upon his lips. 

“T think I have well employed my time,” he muttered 
to himself. “The good Miinnich will never become gener- 
alissimo, and poor old failing Ostermann may now, unsus- 
pected, go quietly to bed and comfortably await the coming 
events. Such an illness, at the right time, is an insurance 
against all accidents and miscarriages. I learned that after 
the death of Peter II. Who knows what would then have 
become of me had I not been careful to remain sick in bed 
until Anne had mounted the throne? I will, therefore, 
again be sick, and in the morning we shall see! Should 
this conjuration succeed, very well; then, perhaps, old 
Ostermann will gradually recover sufficient health to take 
yet a few of the burdens of state upon his own shoulders, 
and thus relieve the good Miinnich of a part of his cares!” 


30 . THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


CHAPTER IV. 


THE NIGHT OF THE CONSPIRACY. 


Ir was a splendid dinner, that which the regent had this 
day prepared for his guests. Count Miimnich was very 
much devoted to the pleasures of the table, and, sitting near 
the regent, he gave himself wholly up to the cheerful humor 
which the excellent viands and delicate wines were calcu- 
lated to stimulate. At times he entirely forgot his deep-laid 
plans for the coming night, and then again he would sud- 
denly recollect them in the midst of his gayest conversation 
with his host, and while volunteering a toast in praise of 
the noble regent, and closing it by crying—“ A long life 
and reign to the great regent, Biron von Courland!” he 
secretly and with a malicious pleasure thought: ‘ This is 
thy last dinner, sir duke! A few hours, and those lips, 
now smiling with happiness, will be forever silenced by our 
blows!” 

These thoughts made the field-marshal unusually gay 
and talkative, and the regent protested that Minnich had 
never been a more agreeable convive than precisely to-day. 
Therefore, when the other guests retired, he begged of 
Miimnich to remain with him awhile; and the field-mar- 
shal, thinking it might possibly enable him to prevent any’ 
warning reaching the regent, consented to stay. 

They spoke of past times, of the happy days when the 
Empress Anne yet reigned, and when all breathed of pleas- 
ure and enjoyment at that happy court; and perhaps it was 
these recollections that rendered Biron sad and thought- 


THE NIGHT OF THE CONSPIRACY. 31 


ful. He was absent and low-spirited, and his large, flash- 
ing eyes often rested with piercing glances upon the calm 
and smiling face of Miinnich. 

“You all envy me on account of my power and domin- 
ion,” said he to Miimnich; “of that I am not ignorant. 
But you know not with what secret pain and anguish these 
few hours of splendor are purchased !—the sleepless nights 
in which one fears seeing the doors open to give admission 
to murderers, and then the dreams in which blood is seen 
flowing, and nothing is heard but death-shrieks and lamen- 
tations! Ah, I hate the nights, which are inimical to all 
happiness. In the night will misfortune at some time over- 
take me—in the night the evil spirit reigns!” 

With a drooping head the regent had spoken half to 
himself; but suddenly raising his head and looking Min- 
nich sharply in the eye, he said: “ Have you, Mr. Field- 
Marshal, during your campaigns, never in the night fore- 
seen any important event?” 

Miinnich shuddered slightly, and the color forsook his 
cheeks. “He knows all, and I am lost,” thought he, and 
his hand involuntarily sought his sword. “I will defend 
myself to the last drop of my blood,” was his first idea. 

But Biron, although surprised, saw nothing of the field- 
marshal’s strange commotion—he was wholly occupied with 
his own thoughts, and only awaited an answer to his ques- 
tion. 

“Well, Mr. Field - Marshal,” he repeated, “tell me 
whether in the night you have ever had the presentiment 
of any important event?” 

“T was just considering,” he calmly said. “At this 


89 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


moment I do not recollect ever having foreseen any extraor- 
dinary event by night. But it has always been a principle 
of mine to take advantage of every favorable opportunity, 
whether by day or night.” * 

Minnich remained with the regent until eleven o’clock 
in the evening, and then they separated with the greatest 
kindness and the heartiest assurances of mutual friendship 
and devotion. . 

* Ah, that was a hard trial!” said Mimnich, breathing 
easier and deeper, as he left the palace of the duke behind 
him. “I was already convinced that all was lost, but this 
Biron is unsuspecting as a child! Sleep now, Biron, sleep! 
—in a few hours I shall come to awaken you, and realize 
your bloody dream !” 

With winged steps he hastened to his own palace. Ar- 
rived there, he summoned his adjutant, Captain von Mann- 
stein, and, after having briefly given him the necessary 
orders, took him with him into his carriage for the purpose 
of repairing to the palace of the Prince of Brunswick. 

It was a cold November night of the year 1740. The 
deserted streets were hushed in silence, and no one of the 
occupants of the dark houses, no one on earth, dreamed 
that this carriage, whose rumbling was only half heard in 
sleep, was in a manner the thundering herald of new times 
and new lords. 

Minnich had chosen his time well. For if it was for- 
bidden to admit any one whatever, during the night, to the 
palace occupied by the young czar, and if also the regent had 


* Mannstein’s Memoirs, p. 211; Levecque, vol. v., p. 240. 


THE NIGHT OF THE CONSPIRACY. 83 


given the guards strict orders to shoot any one who might 
attempt, in spite of these commands, to penetrate into the 
forbidden precincts, this day made an exception for Miin- 
nich, as a portion of one of his own regiments was to-day on 
duty at the imperial palace. 

Unimpeded, stayed by no one, Miinnich penetrated to 
the apartments of Anna Leopoldowna. She was awaiting 
him, and at his side she descended to receive the homage 
of the officers and soldiers, who had been commanded by 
Minnich to submit themselves to her. | 

With glowing words she described to the listening sol- 
diers all the insults and injuries to which the regent had 
subjected herself, her husband, and their son the emperor. 

“ Who can say that this miserable, low-born Biron is 
called to fill so exalted a place, and to lord it over you, my 
beloved friends and brothers? To me, as the niece of the 
blessed Empress Anne, to me, as the mother of Ivan, chosen 
as emperor by Anne, to me alone belongs the regency, and 
by Heaven I will reconquer that of which I have been ne- 
fariously robbed! I will punish this insolent upstart whose 
shameful tyranny we have endured long enough, and I hope 
you, my friends, will stand by me and obey the commands 
of your generals.” * 

A loud viva followed this speech of Anna Leopoldowna, 
who tenderly embraced the enraptured officers, command- 
ing them to follow her. 

Accompanied by Marshal Miinnich and eighty soldiers, 
Anna then went out into the streets. In silence they ad- 


* Levecque, vol. v., p. 241. 


34 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


vanced to within a hundred steps of Biron’s palace. Here, 
making a halt, Mannstein alone approached the palace to 
command the officers of the guard in the name of the new 
regent, Anna Leopoldowna, to submit and pay homage to 
her. No opposition was made; accustomed always to obey, 
they had not the courage to dispute the commands of the 
new ruler, and declared themselves ready to assist her in 
the arrest of the regent. 

Mannstein returned to Anna and Mimnich with this 
joyful intelligence, and received orders to penetrate into 
the palace with twenty men, to capture the duke, and even 
kill him if he made resistance. 

Without opposition Mannstein again returned to the 
palace with his small band, carefully avoiding making the 
least noise in his approach. All the soldiers in the palace 
knew him; and as the watch below had permitted him to 
pass, they supposed he must have an important message for 
the duke, and no one stopped him. | 

He had already wandered through several rooms, when 
an unforeseen difficulty presented itself. Where is the 
sleeping-room of the duke? Which way must he turn, in 
order to find him? He stood there undecided, not daring | 
to ask any of the attendants in the anterooms, lest perhaps 
they might suspect him and awaken the duke! He finally 
resolved to go forward and trust to accident. He passed 
two or three chambers—all were empty, all was still! 

Now he stands before a closed door! What if that 
should prove the chamber of the duke? He thinks he 
hears a breathing. 

He cautiously tries the door. Slightly closed, it yields 


THE NIGHT OF THE CONSPIRACY. 35 


ba his pressure, and he enters. There stands a large bed 
with hanging curtains, which are boldly drawn aside by 
Mannstein. 

Before him lies the regent, Duke Biron of Courland, 
with his wife by his side. 

“Duke Biron, awake!” called Mannstein, with a loud 
voice. The ducal pair started up from their slumber with 
a shriek of terror. 

Biron leaps from the bed, but Mannstein overpowers 
him and holds him fast until his soldiers come. The duke 
defends himself with his hands, but is beaten down with 
musket-stocks. They bind his hands with an officer’s scarf, 
they wrap him in a soldier’s mantle, and so convey him 
down to Field-Marshal Miinnich’s carriage which is wait- 
ing, below, to transport him to the winter palace. 

While Mannstein and the soldiers were occupied with 
the duke, his duchess had found an opportunity to make 
her escape. With only her light night-dress, shrieking and 
lamenting, she had rushed into the street. 

She was seized by a soldier, who, conducting her to 
Mannstein, asked what he should do with her. 

“Take her back into the palace!” said Mannstein, 
hastening past. 

But the soldier, only anxious to rid himself of an encum- 
brance, threw the now insensible duchess into the snow, 
and hurried away. 

In this situation she was found by a captain of the guard, 
who lifted her up and conveyed her into the palace to 
give her over to the care of her women, that she might be 
restored to consciousness and dressed. But she no longer 


86 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


had either women or servants! Her reign is over; they 
have all fled in terror, as from the house of death, that they 
may not be involved in the disaster of those whose good 
fortunes they have shared. The slaves had all decamped in 
search of new masters, and the regent’s palace, so often. 
humbly and reverently sought, is now avoided as a pest- 
house. : 

With trembling hands the duchess enveloped herself in 
her clothes, and then followed her husband into the winter 
palace. 

And while all this was taking place the court and nation 
yet trembled at the names of these two persons who had 
just been so deeply humbled. The Princess Anna Leo- 
poldowna, accompanied by the shouting soldiery, made a tri- 
umphant progress through the streets of the city, stopping 
at all the caserns to receive the oaths and homage of the 
regiments. 

This palace-revolution was consummated without the 
shedding of blood, and the awaking people of St. Peters- 
burg found themselves with astonishment under a new re- 
gency and new masters! * 

But a population of slaves venture no opposition. Who- 
ever may have the power to declare and maintain himself 
their ruler, he is their master, and the slavish horde bow 
humbly before him. 

As, hardly four weeks previously, the great magnates of 
the realm had hurried to the Duke of Courland to pay 
their homage and prostrate themselves in the dust before 


* Levecque, vol. v., p. 241, and following. 


THE NIGHT OF THE CONSPIRACY. 37 


him, so did they now hasten to the palace of the new regent, 
humbly to pay their qurt to her. The same lips that even 
yesterday swore eternal fidelity to the Regent Biron, and 
sounded his praise to the skies, now condemned him, and 
as loudly commended their august new mistress, Anna Leo- 
_ poldowna! The same knees which had yesterday bent to 
Biron, now bent before Anna; and, with tears of joy, men 
now again sank into the arms of each other, loudly con- 
gratulating their noble Russia upon which the sun of hap- 
piness had nowrisen, giving her Anna Leopoldowna as 
regent ! 

And while all was jubilation in the palace of the new 
regent, that of the great man of yesterday stood silent and 
deserted—no one dared to raise a voice in his favor! Those 
who yesterday revelled at his table and sang his praises 
were to-day his bitterest enemies, cursing him the louder 
the more they had lauded him yesterday. 

Magnificent festivals were celebrated in St. Petersburg 
in honor of the new regent, while they were at the same 
time trying the old one and condemning him to death. 
But Anna Leopoldowna mitigated his punishment—what a 
mitigation !—by changing the sentence of death into that of 
perpetual banishment to Siberia ! 


38 ‘HE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


CHAPTER V. 
HOPES DECEIVED. 


TRANQUILLITY was again established in Russia. Once 
again all faces were lighted up with joy at this new state of 
affairs, and again the people congratulated themselves on 
the good fortune of the Russian empire! All this was done 
four weeks previously, when Biron took upon himself the 
regency, and the same will be done again when another 
comes to overthrow the Regent Anna! 

It was on the day after this new revolution, when Miin- 
nich, entering the palace with a proud step and elevated 
head, requested an interview with the regent. 

“ Your highness,” he said, not bending the knee before 
his sovereign as custom demanded, but only slightly press- 
ing her hand to his lips—“ your highness, I have redeemed 
my word and fulfilled my promise. I promised to liberate 
you from Biron and make you regent, and I have kept my 
word. Now, madame, it is for you to fulfil your pledge! 
You solemnly promised that when I should succeed in 
making you regent, you would immediately and uncondi- 
tionally grant me whatever I might demand. Well, now, 
you are regent, and I come to proffer my request!” 

“Tt will make me happy, field-marshal, to discharge a 
small part of my obligations toward you, by yielding to 
your demand. Ask quickly, that I may the sooner give!” 
said Anna Leopoldowna, with an engaging smile. 

“Make me the generalissimo of your forces!” responded 
Miunnich in an almost commanding tone. 


OC O00000OCOCOCO " 


HOPES DECEIVED. 39 


A cloud gathered over the smiling features of the re- 
gent. 

“Why must you ask precisely this—this one only favor 
which it is no longer in my power to bestow?” she sadly 
said. “There are so many offices, so many influential posi- 
tions—ah, I could prove my gratitude to you in so many 
ways! Ask for money, treasures, landed estates—all these 
it is in my power to give. Why must you demand precisely 
that which is no longer mine!” 

Minnich stared at her with widely opened eyes, trem- 
bling lips, and pallid cheeks. His head swam, and he 
thought he could not have rightly heard. 

“T hope this is only a misunderstanding!” he stam- 
mered. “I must have heard wrong; it cannot be your in- 
tention to refuse me.” 

“Would to God it were yet in my power to gratify 
you!” sighed the regent. ‘“ But I cannot give what is no 
longer mine! Why came you not a few hours earlier, field- 
marshal? then would it have been yet possible to comply 
with your request. But now it is too late!” 

“You have, then, appointed another generalissimo?” 
shrieked Miinnich, quivering with rage. 

“ Yes,” said Anna, smiling; “and see, there comes my 
generalissimo !” 

It was the regent’s husband, Prince Ulrich yon Bruns- 
wick, who that moment entered the room and calmly greet- 
ed Miinnich. 

“ You have here a rival, my husband,” said the princess, 
without embarrassment; “and had I not already signed 
your diploma, it is very questionable whether I should now 


40 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


do it, now that I know Count Miinnich desires the appoint- 
ment.” 

“JT hope,” proudly responded the prince, “ Count Muin- 
nich will comprehend that this position, which places the 
whole power of the empire in the hands of him who holds 
it, is suitable only for the father of the emperor!” 

Count Miinnich made no answer. Already so near 
the attainment of his end, he saw it again elude his grasp. 
Again had he labored, struggled, in vain. This was the 
second revolution which he had brought about, with this his 
favorite plan in view: two regents were indebted to him for 
their greatness, and both had refused him the one thing for 
which he had made them regents; neither had been willing 
to create him generalissimo ! 

In this moment Minnich felt unable to conceal his rage 
under an assumed tranquillity ; pretending a sudden attack 
of illness, he begged permission to retire. } 

Tottering, scarcely in possession of his senses, he has- 
tened through the hall thronged with petitioners. All 
bowed before him, all reverently saluted him; but to him it 
seemed that he could read nothing but mockery and mali- 
cious joy upon all those smiling faces. Ah, he could have 
crushed them all, and trodden them under his feet, in his 
inextinguishable rage! 

When he finally reached his carriage, and his proud 
steeds were bearing him swiftly away—when none could 
any longer see him—then he gave vent to furious execra- 
tions, and tears of rage flowed from his eyes; he tore out 
his hair and smote his breast; he felt himself wandering, 
frantic with rage and despair. One thought, one wish had 


HOPES DECEIVED, 41 


occupied him for many long years; he had labored and 
striven for it. He wished to be the first, the most powerful 
man in the Russian empire; he would control the military 
force, and in his hands should rest the means of giving the 
country peace or war! That was what he wanted; that was 
what he had labored for—and now. .... 

“Oh, Biron, Biron,” he faintly groaned, “why must I 
overthrow you? You loved me, and perhaps would one day 
have accorded me what you at first refused! Biron, I have 
betrayed you witha kiss. It is your guardian angel who is 
now avenging you!” 

Thus he reached his palace, and the servants who 
opened the door of his carriage started back with alarm 
at the fearful expression of their master’s face. It had be- 
come of an ashen gray, his blue lips quivered, and his 
gloomily-gleaming eyes seemed to threaten those who dared 
approach him. 

Alighting in silence, he strode on through the rows of 
his trembling servants. Suddenly two of his lackeys fell 
upon their knees before him, weeping and sobbing; they 
stretched forth their hands to him, begging for mercy. 

“What have they done ?” asked he of his major-domo. 

“Feodor has had the misfortune to break your excel- 
lency’s drinking-cup, and Ivanovitch bears the blame of 
suffering your greyhound Artemisia to escape.” 

A strange joy suddenly lighted up the brow of the 
count. 

“ Ah,” said he, breathing more freely, and stretching 
himself up—‘ ah, I thank God that I now have some one 
on whom I can wreak my vengeance! ” 

4 


42 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


And kicking the unfortunate weeping and writhing 
servants, who were crawling in the dust before him, Miin- 
nich cried : 

** No mercy, you hounds—no, no mercy! You shall be 
scourged until you have breathed out your miserable lives! 
The knout here! Strike! I will look on from my win- 
dows, and see that my commands are executed! Ah, I will 
teach you to break my cups and let my hounds escape! 
Scourge them unto death! I will see their blood—their 
red, smoking blood !” 

The field-marshal stationed himself at his open window. 
The servants had formed a close circle around the unhappy 
beings who were receiving their punishment in the court 
below. ‘The air was filled with the shrieks of the tortured 
men, blood flowed in streams over their flayed backs, and at 
every new stroke of the knout they howled and shrieked for 


mercy; while at every new shriek Minnich cried out to his 


executioners : 

“No, no mercy, no pity! Scourge the culprits! I 
would, I must see blood! Scourge them to death!” 

Trembling, the band of servants looked on with folded 
hands; with a savage smile upon his face, stood Count 
Minnich at his window above. 

Weaker and weaker grew the cries of the unhappy suf. 
ferers—they no longer prayed for mercy. The knout con- 
tinued to flay their bodies, but their blood no longer flowed 
—they were dead ! 

The surrounding servants folded their hands in prayer 
for the souls of the deceased, and then loudly commended 
the mild justice of their master ! 


Ee “ 








HOPES DECEIVED. 43. 


Retiring from the window, Count Miinnich ordered his 
breakfast to be served ! * 

From that time forward, however, Miinnich’s life was a. 
continuous chain of yexations and mortifications. As his 
inordinate ambition was known, he was constantly sus- 
pected, and was reprehended with inexorable severity for 
every fault. 

It is true the regent raised him to the post of first min- 
ister; but Ostermann, who recovered his health after the 
successful termination of the revolutionary enterprise, by 
various intrigues attained to the position of minister of for- 
eign affairs; while to Golopkin was given the department 
of the interior, so that only the war department remained 
to the first minister, Miinnich. He had originated and ac- 
complished two revolutions that he might become gener- 
alissimo, and had obtained nothing but mortifications and 
humiliations that embittered every moment of his life! 


* Such horribly cruel punishments of the serfs were at that time 
no uncommon occurrence in Russia. Unhappy serfs were daily 
scourged to death at the command of their masters. Moreover, princes: 
and generals, and even respectable ladies, were scourged with the knout 
at the command of the emperor. Yet these punishments in Russia had 
nothing dishonoring in them. The Empress Catharine II. had three 
of her court ladies stripped and scourged in the presence of the whole 
court, for having drawn some offensive caricatures of the great em- 
press. One of these scourged ladies, afterward married to a Russian 
magnate, was sent by Catharine as a sort of ambassadress to Sweden, 
for the purpose of inducing the King of Sweden to favor some of her 
political plans.—* Mémoires Secréts sur la Russie, par Masson,” vol. iii. 
p- 392, 


44 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


CHAPTER VI. 
THE REGENT ANNA LEOPOLDOWNA. 


ANNA had succeeded, she was regent; she had shaken 
off the burden of the Bironic tutelage, and her word was 
all-powerful throughout the immeasurable provinces of the . 
Russian empire. Was she now happy, this proud and pow- 
erful Anna Leopoldowna? No one had ever. yet been 
happy and free from care upon this Russian throne, and 
how, then, could Anna Leopoldowna be so? She had read 
the books of Russian political history, and that history was 
written with blood! Anna was a woman, and she trembled 
when thinking of the poison, the dagger, the throttling 
hands, and flaying sword, which had constantly beset the 
throne of Russia, and in a manner been the means in the 
hands of Providence of clearing it from one tyrant, only, 
indeed, to make room for another. Anna, as we have said, 
trembled before this means of Providence; and when her 
eyes fell upon Miinnich—upon his dark, angry brow and 
his secretly threatening glance—she then with inward ter- 
ror asked herself: “May not Providence have chosen him 
for my murderer? Will he not overthrow me, as he over- 
threw his former master and friend Duke Biron?” 

Anna now feared him whom she had chiefly to thank 
for her greatness. At the time when he had made her re- 
gent he had satisfactorily shown that his arm was suffi- 
ciently powerful to displace one regent and hurl him to the 
dust! What he had once Bones might he not now be able 
to accomplish again ? 


THE REGENT ANNA LEOPOLDOWNA. 45 


She surrounded this feared field-marshal with spies and 
listeners ; she caused all his actions to be watched, every 
one of his words to be repeated to her, in order to ascertain 
whether it had not some concealed sense, some threatening 
secret ; she doubled the guards of her palace, and, always 
trembling with fear, she no longer dared to occupy any one 
of her apartments continuously. Nomadically wandered 
they about in their own palace, this Regent Anna Leopol- 
downa and her husband Prince Ulrich of Brunswick; re- 
membering the sleeping-chamber of Biron, she dared not 
select any one distinct apartment for constant occupation ; 
every evening found her in a new room, every night she re- 
posed in a different bed, and even her most trusted servant 
often knew not in which wing of the castle the princely pair 
were to pass the night.* 

She, before whom these millions of Russian subjects 
humbled themselves in the dust, trembled every night in 
her bed at the slightest rustling, at the whisperings of the 
wind, at every breath of air that beat against her closed and 
bolted doors. 

She might, it is true, have released herself from these 
torments with the utterance of only one word of command ; 
it required only a wave of her hand to send this haughty 
and dangerous Miinnich to Siberia! Nor was an excuse 
for such a proceeding wanting. Count Miinnich’s pride 
and presumption daily gave occasion for anger; he daily 
gave offence by his reckless disregard of and disrespect for 
his chief, the generalissimo, Prince Ulrich; daily was it 


* Levecque, vol. v., p. 218. 


46 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


necessary to correct him and to confine him within his own 
proper official boundaries. | 

And such refractory conduct toward a Russian master, 
had it not in all times been a terrible and execrable crime— 
a crime for which banishment to Siberia had always been 
considered a mild punishment ? 

Poor Anna! called to rule over Russia, she lacked only 
the first and most necessary qualification for her position— 
a Russian heart! There was, in this German woman’s dis- 
position, too much gentleness and mildness, too much con- 
fiding goodness. To a less barbarous people she might 
have been a blessing, a merciful ruler and gracious bene- 
factor! 

But her arm was too weak to wield the knout instead of 
the sceptre over this people of slaves, her heart too soft to 
judge with inexorable severity according to the barbarous 
Russian laws which, never pardoning, always condemn and 
flay. 

It was this which gradually estranged from her the 
hearts of the Russians. They felt that it was no Russian 
who reigned over them; and because they had no occasion 
to tremble and creep in the dust before her, they almost de- 
spised her, and derided the idyllic sentiments of this good 
German princess who wished to realize her fantastic dreams 
by treating a horde of barbarians as a civilized people ! 

The slaves longed for their former yoke; they looked 
around them with a feeling of strangeness, and to them it 
seemed unnatural not everywhere to see the brandished 
knout, the avenging scaffold, and the transport-carriages 
departing for Siberia ! 


THE REGENT ANNA LEOPOLDOWNA. 47 


Much as Ostermann importuned her, often as her own 
husband warned her, Anna nevertheless refused ; she would 
not banish Field-Marshal Miinnich to Siberia, but remained 
firm in her determination to leave him in possession of his 
liberty and his dignities. 

But when Minnich himself, excited and fatigued with 
these never-ending annoyances, and moreover believing that | 
Anna could not do without him, and therefore would not 
grant his request, finally demanded his dismission, Anna 
granted it with joy; and Miinnich, deceived in all his am- 
bitious plans and expectations, angrily left the court to be- 
take himself to his palace beyond the Neva. 

Anna now breathed easier ; she now felt herself powerful 
and free, for Miinnich was at least removed farther from 
her; his residence was no longer separated from hers only 
by a wall, she had no longer to fear his breaking through 
in the night—ah, Miinnich dwelt beyond the Neva, and a 
whole regiment guarded its banks and bridges by night! 
Minnich could no longer fall upon her by surprise, as she 
could have him always watched. 

Anna no longer trembled with fear; she could yield to 
her natural indolence, and if she sometimes, from fear of 
Miinnich, troubled herself about state affairs and labored 
with her ministers, she now felt it to be an oppressive bur- 
den, to which she could no longer consent to subject her- 
self. 

Satiated and exhausted, she in some measure left the 
wielding of the sceptre to her first and confidential minis- 
ter, Count Golopkin. He ruled in her name, as Count 
Ostermann was generalissimo in the name of her husband 


A8 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


the Prince of Brunswick. Why trouble themselves with 
the pains and cares of governing, when it was permitted 
them to only enjoy the pleasures of their all-powerful posi- 
tion ? 

The minister might flourish the knout and proclaim 
the Siberian banishment over the trembling people; the 
scourged might howl, and the banished might lament, the 
great and powerful might dispose of the souls and bodies of 
their serfs ; rare honesty might be oppressed by consuming 
usury; offices, honors; and titles might be gambled for; 
justice and punishment might be bought and sold; vice 
and immorality might universally prevail—Anna would not 
know it. She would neither see nor hear any thing of the 
outside world! The palace is her world, in which she is 
happy, in which she revels! 

Ah, that charming, silent little boudoir, with its soft 
Turkish carpet, with its elastic divans and heavily curtained 
windows and doors—that little boudoir is now her paradise, 
the temple of her happiness ! In it she lingers, and in it is 
she blessed. There she reposes, dreaming of past delightful 
hours, or smiling with the intoxication of the still more de- 
lightful present in the arms of the one she loves, 


. 


THE FAVORITE. 49 


CHAPTER VII. 
THE FAVORITE. 


Sze how her eyes flash, how her heart beats—how beau- 
tiful she is in¢he warm glow of excitement, this beautiful 
Anna Leopoldowna! 

The door opens, and a smiling young maiden looks in 
with many a nod of her little head. 

“ Ah, is it you, my Julia?” calls the princess, opening 
her arms to press the young girl to her heart. ‘“ Come, I 
will kiss you, and imagine it is he who receives the kiss! 
Ah, what would this poor Anna Leopoldowna be if deprived 
of her dear friend, Julia von Mengden?” And drawing 
her favorite down into her lap, she continued: “ Now re- 
late to me, Julia. Set your tongue in motion, that I may 
hear one of your very pleasantest stories. That will divert 
me, and cause the long hours before his coming to pass 
more quickly.” 

Julia von Mengden roguishly shook her beautifully curl- 
ing locks with a comic earnestness, and, very aptly and un- 
mistakably imitating the somewhat hoarse and nasal voice 
of Prince Ulrich, said : 

“Your grace forgets that you are regent, and have to 
hold the reins of government in the name of the illustrious 
imperial squaller, your son, since his imperial grace still re- 
mains in his swaddling-clothes, and has much less to do 
with state affairs than with many other little occupa- 
tions ! ” 


Anna Leopoldowna, breaking out in joyous laughter, 


50 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


exultingly clapped her little hands, which were sparkling 
with brilliants. 

_ “This is superb,” said she. “You play the part of my 
very worthy husband to perfection. It is as if one saw and 
heard him. Ah, I would that he resembled you a little, as 
he would then be less insupportable, and it would be some- 
what easier to endure him.” 

Julia von Mengden, making no answer to this remark, 
continued with her nasal voice and comic pathos: 

“ Your grace, this is not the time to analyze our divert- 
ing little domestic dissensions, and occupy ourselves with 
the quiet joys of our happy union! Your grace is, above 
all things, regent, and must give your attention to state 
affairs. Without are standing three most worthy, cor- 
pulent, tobacco-scented ambassadors, who desire an audi- 
ence. Your grace is, above all things, regent, and must 
receive them.” 

“Must!” exclaimed Anna, suddenly contracting her 
brows. “ We will first hear what they desire of us.” 

“The first is the envoy of the great Persian conqueror, 
Thamas-Kouli-Khan, who comes to lay at your feet the 
magnificent presents of his master.” 

“ Bah! they are presents for the young Emperor Ivan. 
He may, therefore, be conducted to the cradle of my son, 
and there display his presents. It does not interest me.” 

“The second is a messenger from our camp. He brings . 
news of a great victory obtained by one of your brave gen- 
erals over the Swedes!” » 

“But what does that concern me?” angrily cried the 
regent. “Let them conquer or be defeated, it is all the 


THE FAVORITE. 51 


same to me. That concerns my husband the generalissimo! 
Let me be spared the sight of the warlike and blood-drip- 
ping messenger !” 

“The third is the ambassador of the wavering and shak- 
ing young Austrian Empress Maria Theresa. He comes, he 
says, upon a secret mission, and pretends to have discovered 
a sort of conspiracy that is hatching against you.” 

“ Let him go with his discovery to Golopkin, our minister 
of the interior. That is his business! ” 

“ Your grace is, above all things, regent, and should re- 
member—” 

“ Nothing—I will remember nothing!” exclaimed Anna 
Leopoldowna, interrupting her favorite. “I will not be 
annoyed, that is all.” 

“ Well, thank God!” now cried Julia von Mengden, in 
her natural tone—“ thank God, that such is your determina- 
tion, princess! you are, then, in earnest, and I am to send 
these three amiable persons to the devil, or, what is just the 
same, to your husband ?” 

“That is my meaning.” 

« And this is beautiful in you,” continued Julia, cower- 
ing down before her mistress. “ These eternal, tiresome and 
intolerable state affairs would make your face prematurely 
old and wrinkled, my dear princess. Ah, there is nothing 
‘more tedious than governing. Iam heartily sick of it! At 
first I was amused when we two sat together and settled 
who should be sent to prison and who should be pardoned ; 
whom we should make counts and princes, or degrade to the 
ranks as common soldiers. But all that pleased only for a 
short time; now it is annoying, and why should we take 


59 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


upon ourselves this trouble? Have we not the power to act 
and live according to our own good pleasure? Bah! that is 
the least compensation you should receive for allowing these 
horrid Russians the privilege of calling you their regent and 
mistress !” 

“ But, my little chatterer, you forget the three envoys 
who are waiting without,” said Anna, with a smile. 

“Ah, that is true! I must first send those wig-blocks 
away!” cried Julia, springing up and fluttering out of the 
room as lightly as a bird. 

“* How lovely she is, and how agreeable it is to have her 
with me!” said Anna, tenderly looking after her departing 
favorite. “She is, indeed, my good genius, who drives away 
the cares from my poor brain.” 

“So, it is done!” cried Julia, quickly returning to the 
room. “I have sent the gentlemen away. To the Persian 
envoy I said: ‘Go to our emperor, Ivan. He feeds upon 
brilliants, and, as he has had no breakfast this morning, his 
appetite will be good. Go, therefore, and give him your 
diamonds for breakfast. Anna Leopoldowna wants them 
not; she is already satiated with them !’—To the second I 
said : ‘Go and announce your glorious victory to our sublime 
generalissimo. He is at his toilet, and as he every morning 
touches his noble cheeks with rouge, your new paint, pre- 
pared from the purple blood of the enemy, will doubtless be 
very welcome to him!’—’ And as to what concerns your 
secret mission and your discovered conspiracy,’ said I to the 
Austrian ambassador, ‘I am sorry that you cannot here give 
birth to the dear children of your inventive head; go with 
them to our midwife, Minister Golopkin, and hasten a little, 


- ie 


THE FAVORITE. 53 


for I see in your face that you are already in the pangs of 
parturition !’” 

“Well,” asked Anna Leopoldowna, loudly laughing, 
“‘ what said their worships to that?” 

“ What did they say? They said nothing! They were 
dumb and looked astonished. The, made exactly such eyes 
as I have seen made at home, upon my father’s estate in 
Liefland, by the calves when the butcher knocked them 
upon the head. But now,” continued Julia, nestling again 
at the feet of her mistress, “now give me a token of your 
favor, and forget for a while that you are regent. Let us 
chat a little like a couple of real genuine women—that is, of 
our husbands and lovers. Oh, I have very important news 
for you!” 

“ Well, speak quickly,” said Anna, with eagerness. “What 
have you to tell me?” 

Julia assumed a very serious and important countenance. 
“The first and most important piece of news is, that your 
husband, Prince Ulrich of Brunswick, is very jealous of me, 
and yet of one other!” 

“Bah!” said Anna, contemptuously, “let him be jeal- 
ous. I do not trouble myself about it, and shall always do 
as I please.” 

“No, no, that will not do,” seriously responded Julia. 
“It is so tiresome to always hear the wrangling and growl- 
ing of a jealous husband! I tell your grace that I must 
have quiet in his presence; I can no longer bear his grim 
looks and his constant anger and abuse. You must soothe 
him, Princess Anna, or I will run away from this horrible 
court, where a poor maiden is not allowed to love her friend 


54 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


and mistress, the charming Princess Anna Leopoldowna, 
with all her heart and soul!” 

The regent’s eyes filled with tears. “My Julia,” she 
tremulously said, “can you seriously think of leaving me? 
See you not that I should be thereby rendered very solitary 
and miserable ?” 

And, raising up her favorite into her arms, she kissed 
her. 

Julia’s bright eyes also filled with tears. “Think you, 
then, princess, that I could ever leave, ever be separated 
from you?” she tenderly asked. “No, my Princess Anna 
has such entire possession of my heart, that it has no room 
for any other feeling than the most unbounded love and 
devotion to my dear, my adored princess. But for the very 
reason that I love you, I cannot bear to have your husband 
fill the palace with his jealous complaints, and thus publish- 
ing to St. Petersburg and all the world your unfaithfulness 
and criminal intrigues. Oh, I tell you I see through this 
generalissimo, I know all his plans and secret designs. He 
would gladly be able to convict you of infidelity to him— 
then, with the help of the army he commands, declare his 
criminal wife unfit for the regency, and then make himself 
regent! He has a cunningly devised plan, but which my 
superior cunning shall bring to naught! I will play him a 
trick !—But no, I will tell you no more now! At the right 
time you shall know all. Now, Princess Anna, now answer 
me one question. Do you, then, so very much love this 
Count Lynar?” 

The princess looked up with a dreamy smile. “Do I 
love him!” she then murmured low. “Oh, my God, Thou 


THE FAVORITE. 55 


knowest how truly, how glowingly my heart clings to him. 
Thou knowest that of all the world I have never loved any 
other man than him alone! And you, Julia, you who know 
every emotion and palpitation of my heart, you yet ask me 
if Ilove him? Do you remember, child, when, four years 
ago, I first saw him—when he stood before me in all his 
proud manly beauty, with his conquering glance, his heart- 
winning smile? Ah, my whole heart already then flew to 
meet him. I revelled in the sight of him, I thought only 
of him, I spoke to him in my thoughts, and my prayers, I 
lived only when I saw him; and that happy, that never-to- 
be-forgotten day when he confessed his love, when he lay at 
my feet and swore eternal truth to me—ah, why could I not 
have died on that day? I was then so happy!” 

“ Poor Princess Anna,” said Julia, sympathetically, “they 
soon grudged you that happiness!” 

“ Yes,” continued Anna with a bitter smile, “yes, the 
virtuous Empress Anna blushed in the arms of her lover, 
Biron, at this aberration of her sold and coupled niece. She 
found it very revolting that the poor sixteen-year-old Anna 
Leopoldowna dared to have a heart of her own and to feel a 
real love. They must therefore rob her of the only happi- 
ness Heaven had vouchsafed her. Consequently, they wrote 
to Warsaw, asking, nay, commanding the recall of the am- 
bassador, and Lynar was compelled to leave me.” 

“ Ah, I well know how unhappy you were at that time,” 
said Julia, pressing the hand of the princess to her bosom; 
“how you wept, how you wrung your hands—” 

“ And how I nowhere found. mercy or commiseration,” 
interposed Anna, with bitterness, “neither on earth nor in 


56 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


heaven. I was and remained deserted and solitary, and was 
compelled to marry this Prince Ulrich of Brunswick, for 
whom I felt nothing but a chilling, mortal indifference. But 
you must know, Julia, that when I stood with this man at 
the altar, and was compelled to become his wife, I thought 
only of him I loved; 1 vowed eternal truth only to Lynar, 
and when the prince folded me in his arms as his wife, then 
was my God gracious to me, and in a happy deception it 
seemed to me that it was my lover who held me in his arms 
—I thought only of him and breathed only his name, and 
loved him, kissed him, and became his wife, although he 
was far, alas, so immeasurably far from me! And when I 
felt a second self under my heart, I then loved with re- 
doubled warmth the distant one whom I had not seen for 
years; and when Ivan was born, it seemed to me that the 
eyes of my lover looked at me through his, and blessed my 
son whose spiritual father he was! And, my child, what 
think you gave me the courage to overthrow Biron and 
assume the regency? Ah, it was only that I might have 
the power to recall Lynar to my side! I would and must 
be regent, that I might demand the return of Lynar as am- 
bassador from Warsaw. That gave me courage and decision ; 
that enabled me to overcome all timidity and anxiety. I 
thought only of him, and when the end was attained, when 
I was declared regent, the first exercise of my power was to 
recall Lynar to court. Julia, what a happy day was that 
when I saw him again!” 

And the-princess, wholly absorbed in her delightful 
reminiscences, smilingly and silently reclined upon the 
cushions of the divan. 


ne ee 


PS ee ee ee ee 


THE FAVORITE. 57 


“ Ah, it must be love that so thinks and feels,” thoughv- 
tuuy opserved Julia. “I no longer ask you, Princess Anna, 
if you love the count, I now know youdo. But answer me 
yet one question. Have you confidence in me—full, unlim- 
ited confidence? Will you never mistake, never doubt 
me?” 

“ Never!” said Anna Leopoldowna, confidently. “And 
if all the world should tell me that Julia von Mengden is a 
traitress, I would nevertheless firmly rely upon you, and 
reply to the whole world: ‘ That is false! Julia von Meng- 
den is true and pure as gold. [ shall always love her.’ ” 

Julia gratefully glanced up to the heavens, and her eyes 
filled with tears. 

“T thank you, princess,” she then said, with a happy 
smile. “I now have courage for all. You shall now be 
enabled to love your Lynar without fear or trembling, and 
your husband’s clouded brow and reproaching tongue shall 
molest us no more. Confide in me and ask no questions. 
It is all decided and arranged in my mind. But hark! do 
you hear nothing?” 

Anna’s face was transfused with a purple glow, and her 
eyes flashed. 

“Tt is my beloved,” said she. “Yes, itishe. I know 
his step!” 

Julia smilingly opened the concealed door, and Count 
Lynar, with a cry of joy, rushed to the feet of his beloved. 

“ At length!” he exclaimed, clasping her feet, and press- 
ing them to his bosom. 

“ Yes, at length!” murmured Anna, looking down upon 
him with a colonel smile. 


58 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


Julia stood at a distance, contemplating them with 
thoughtful glances. 

‘They should be happy,” she murmured low, and then’ 
asked aloud: “ Count Lynar, did you receive my letter?” 

“T did receive it,” said the count, “and may God re- 
ward you for the sacrifice you are so generously disposed to 
mae for us! Anna, your friend Julia is our good angel. 
To her we shall owe it if our happiness is henceforth in- 
destructible and indissoluble. Do you know the immense 
sacrifice this young maiden proposes to make for us?” 

“No, Princess Anna knows nothing, and shall know 
nothing of it,” said Julia, with a grand air. “ Princess 
Anna shall only know that I love her, and am ready to give 
my life for her. And now,” she continued, with her natu- 
ral gayety, “forget me, ye happy lovers! Lull yourselves 
in the sweet enjoyment of nameless ecstasies! I go to 
watch the spies, and especially your husband, lest he brea 
in upon you without notice!” 

And Julia suddenly left the room, shutting the docr 
upon Anna Leopoldowna and her lover, the Polish Count 
Lynar. 


CHAPTER VIII. 
NO LOVE. 


PrINcE UtricH of Brunswick, the husband of the re- 
gent, had assembled the officers of his general staff for a 
secret conference. Their dark, threatening glances were 
prophetic of mischief, and angrily flashed the eyes of the 











NO LOVE. 59 


prince, who, standing in their midst, had spoken to them in 
glowing words of his domestic unhappiness, and of the idle, 
dreamy, and amatory indolence into which the regent had 
fallen. ; 

“ She writes amorous complainings,” he now said, with 
a voice of rage, in closing his long speech—* she writes son- 
nets to her lover, instead of governing and reading the 
petitions, reports, and other documents that come to her 
from the different ministries and bureaus, which she con- 
stantly returns unread. You are men, and are you willing 
to bear the humiliation of being governed by a woman who 
dishonors you by disregarding her first and holiest duties, 
and setting before your wives and daughters the shameful 
example of a criminal love, thus disgracing her own son, 
your emperor and master?” 

“ No, no, we will not bear it!” cried the wildly excited 
men, grasping the hilts of their swords. ‘“ Give us proof of 
her unfaithfulness, and we shall know how to act as becomes 
men over whom an adulterous woman would reign!” 

“Tt is an unnatural and unendurable law that com- 
mands man to obey a woman. It is contrary to nature that 
the mother should rule in the name of her son, when the 
father is living—the father, whom nature and universal 
custom acknowledge as the lord and head of his wife and 
children !” cried the prince. 

“Give us proof of her guilt,”’ cried the soldiers, “and 
we will this very hour proclaim you regent in her stead!” 

A confidential servant of the prince, who entered at this 
moment, now whispered a few words in his ear. 

The prince’s face flamed up. “ Well, then, gentlemen,” 


60 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


said he, straightening himself up, “you demand proof. In 
this very hour will I furnish it to you. But I do it upon 
one condition. No personal violence! In the person of 
your present regent you must respect the mother of your 
emperor, the wife of your future regent! Anna will yield 
to our just representations, and voluntarily sign the act of 
abdication in my favor. That is all we ought to demand of 
her. She will retain her sacred and inviolable rights as the 
wife of your regent, as the mother of your emperor. Forget 
not that!” 

“ First of all, give us the proof of her guilt!” impa- 
tiently cried the men. 

“T shall, alas, be able to give it you!” said the prince, 
with dignity. ‘ Far be it from me to desire the conviction 
of an innocent person! Believe me, nothing but her guilt 
could induce me to take action against her; were she inno- 
cent, I would be the first to kneel and renew to her my oath 
of fidelity and obedience. But you cannot desire that I, 
your generalissimo, should be the subject of a wife who 
shamefully treads under foot her first and holiest duty! 
The honor of you all is wounded in mine. Come, follow me 
now. I will show you Count Lynar in the arms of his mis- 
tress, the Regent Anna Leopoldowna!” 

The prince strode forth, cautiously followed by his gen- 
erals. They thus passed noiselessly through the long cor- 
ridor leading from the wing of the palace inhabited by the 
prince to that occupied by the regent. 

In the boudoir of the Regent Anna a somewhat singular 
scene was now presented. 

The tender caresses of the lovers were suddenly inter- 








NO LOVE. 61 


rupted by Julia von Mengden, who slipped in through the 
secret door in a white satin robe, and with a myrtle crown 
upon her head. 

“ Princess Anna, it is time for you to know all!” she 
hurriedly said. “Your husband is now coming here 
through the corridor with his generals; they hope to sur- 
prise you in your lover’s arms, that they may have an excuse 
for deposing you from the regency and substituting your 
husband. Struggle against struggle! We will outwit them, 
and cure your husband of his jealousy! From this hour he 
shall be compelled to acknowledge that he was mistaken, and 
that it is for him to implore your pardon. Anna Leopol- 
downa, I love no one in the world but you, and therefore I 
am ready to do all that love can do for you. I will marry 
Count Lynar for the purpose of preserving you from sus- 
picion and slander. I will bear the name of his wife, as a 
screen for the concealment of your loves.” * 

Anna’s eyes overflowed with tears of emotion and trans- 
port. 

“ Weep not, my love,” whispered the count, “ be strong 
and great in this eventful hour! Now will you be forever 
mine, for this magnanimous friend veils and protects our 
union.” 

Julia opened the door and waved her hand. 

A Russian pope in sacred vestments, followed by two 
other servants of the church, entered theroom. With them 
came the most trusted maid-servants of Julia. 

Clasping the count’s hand and advancing to Anna, Julia 


* Levecque, “ Histoire de la Russie,” vol. v., p. 222. 


62 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


said: “ Grant, illustrious princess, that we may celebrate 
our solemn espousal in thy high presence, which is the best 
blessing of our union !” 

Anna opened wide her arms to her favorite, and, press- 
ing her to her bosom, whispered : “ I will never forget thee, 
my Julia. My blessing upon thee, my angel! ” 

“Twill be a true sister to him,” whispered Julia in re- 
turn; ‘always believe in me and trust me. And now, my 
Anna, calmness and self-possession! I already hear your 
husband’s approach. Be strong and great. Let no feature 
of your dear face betray your inward commotion !” 

And, stepping back to the count, Julia made a sign to 
the priest to commence the marriage ceremony. 

Hand in hand the bridal pair knelt before the priest, 
the servants folded their hands in prayer, and, proudly 
erect, with a heavenly transfiguration of her noble face, 
stood Anna Leopoldowna—the priest commenced the cere- 
mony. 

A slight noise was heard at the closed, concealed door. 
The priest calmly continued to speak, the bridal pair re- 
mained in their kneeling position, and, calmly smiling, stood 
the regent by their side. 

The door opened, and, followed by his generals, the en- 
raged prince appeared upon the threshold. 

No one suffered himself to be disturbed; the priest con- 
tinued the service, the parties remained upon their knees, 
Anna Leopoldowna stood looking on with a proud and tran- 
quil smile. 

Motionless, benumbed, as if struck by lightning, re- 
mained the prince upon the threshold ; behind him were 


~~ 


Sed 


SSeS ee 
Fa 


we 


Ee Oe ee 


a 


NO LOVE. 63 


seen the astonished faces of his generals, who, on tiptoe, 
stretched their necks to gaze, over each other’s shoulders, 
upon this singular and unexpected spectacle ! 

At length a murmur arose, they pressed farther forward 
toward the door, and, overcoming his momentary stupe- 
faction, the prince ventured into the room. 

An angry glance of the priest commanded silence; with 
a louder voice he continued his prayer. Anna Leopoldowna 
smilingly beckoned her husband to her side, and slightly 
nodded to the generals. 

They bowed to the ground before their august mistress, 
the regent. 

Now came the closing prayer and the dispensation of the 
blessing. The priest pronounced it kneeling,—the regent 
also bent the knee, and drew the prince down beside her. 
Following the example of the generalissimo, the other gen- 
erals also sank upon their knees,—it was a general prayer, 
which no one dared disturb. 

The ceremony was ended. The priest kissed and blessed 
the bridal pair, and then departed with his assistants; he 
was followed by the servants of the favorite. 

Anna now turned with a proud smile to the prince. 

“ Accident, my husband, has made you a witness of this 
marriage,” said she. ‘“ May i ask your highness what pro- 
gures me this unexpected and somewhat intrusive visit, and 
whv my generals, unannounced, accompany you to their 
regent and mistress? ” 

The embarrassed prince stammered some unintelligible 
words, to which Anna paid no attention. 

Stepping forward, she motioned the generals to enter, 


64 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


and with her most fascinating smile said: “ Ah, I thmk I 
now know the reason of your coming, gentlemen! Your 
loyal and faithful hearts yearn for a sight of your young 
emperor. It is true, his faithful subjects have not seen him 
for a long time! Even a sovereign is not guaranteed 
against the evil influences of the weather, which has lately 
been very rough, and for that reason the young czar has 
been unable to show himself to his people. Ah, it pleases 
me that you have come, and I am obliged to my husband 
fer bringing you to me so unexpectedly. You may now 
satisfy yourselves that the emperor lives and is growing fast. 
Julia, bring us the young emperor!” 

Julia von Mengden silently departed, while Count Lynar, 
respectfully approaching the regent, said afew words to her 
in a low tone. 

“You are quite right, sir count,” said the regent aloud, 
and, turning to her husband and the generals, continued: 
“Count Lynar is in some trouble about the unexpected 
publicity given to his marriage. There are, however, im- 
portant reasons for keeping it still a secret. The family of 
my maid of honor are opposed to this alliance with a for- 
eigner, and insist that Julia shall marry another whom they 
have destined for her. On the other hand, certain family 
considerations render secrecy the duty of the count. Julia, 
oppressed by her inexorable relations, disclosed the state of 
affairs to me, and as I love Julia, and as I saw that she was 
wasting away with grief without the possession of her lover, 
I favored her connection with Count Lynar. They daily 
saw each other in my apartments, and, finally yielding to 
their united prayers, I consented that they should this day 


NO LOVE. 65 


be legally united by the priest, and thus defeat the opposi- 
tion of their respective families. 

“This, gentlemen,” continued Anna, raising her voice, 
“is the simple explanation of this mystery. I owe this ex- 
planation to myself, well knowing that secret slander and 
malicious insinuations might seek to implicate me in this 
affair, and that a certain inimical and evil-disposed party, 
displeased that you should have a woman for regent, would 
be glad to prove to you that all women are weak, faulty, 
and sinful creatures! Be careful how you credit such 
miserable tales!” 

Silent, with downcast eyes, stood the generals under the 
flashing glance of the regent, who now turned to her hus- 
band with a mocking smile. “ You, my prince and hus- 
band,” said she, “ you I have to thank !—your tenderness of 
heart induced you generously to furnish me with this oppor- 
tunity to justify my conduct to my most distinguished and 
best-beloved subjects and servants, and thus to break the 
point of the weapon with which calumny threatened my 
breast! I therefore thank you, my husband. But see! 
there comes the emperor.” 

‘In fact, the folding-doors were at this moment thrown 
open, and a long train of palace officials and servants ap- 
proached. At the head of the train was Julia von Meng- 
den, bearing a velvet cushion bespangled with brilliants, 
upon which reposed the child in a dress of gold brocade. 
On both sides were seen the richly adorned nurses and at- 
tendants, and near them the major-domo, bearing upon a 
golden cushion the imperial crown and other insignia of 
empire. 


66 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


Anna Leopoldowna took young Ivan in her arms; the 
child smiled in her face, and stretched forth his hand to- 
ward the sparkling crown. 

With her son upon her arm, Anna majestically advanced 
to the centre of the hall, and, lifting up the child, said: 
“ Behold your emperor! Respect and reverence for your 
illustrious master! Upon your knees in the presence of 
your emperor!” 

It was as if all, servants, attendants, and generals, had 
been struck with a magic wand. They all fell upon their 
knees, and bowed their heads to the earth—venal slaves, 
one word from the ruler sufficed to set them all grovelling 
in the dust! 

With a proud smile Anna enjoyed this triumph. Near 
her stood the prince, the father of the emperor, with rage 
and shame in his heart. 

‘“‘ Long live the emperor!” resounded from all lips, and 
the child Ivan, Emperor of all the Russias, screeched for 
joy at the noise and at the splendor of the assemblage. 

“Long live our noble regent, Anna Leopoldowna!” now 
loudly cried Julia von Mengden. 

Like a thundering cry of jubilation it was instantly 
echoed through the hall. 

The generals were the first to join in this enthusiastic 
viva ! 

A quarter of an hour later the generals were permitted. 
_ to retire, and the emperor was reconveyed to his apartments. 

Anna Leopoldowna remained alone with her husband 
and the newly-married pair, who had retreated to the recess 
of a window and were whispering together. 


NO LOVE. 67 


Anna now turned to her husband, and, with cutting 
coldness in her tone, said : 

“You must understand, my husband, that I am very 
generous. It wasin my power to arrest you as a traitor, 
but I preferred only to shame you, because you, unhappily, 
are the father of my child.” 

“You think, then,” asked the prince, with a scornful 
smile, “that I shall take the buffoonery you have just had 
played before us for truth?” 

“That, my prince, must wholly depend upon your own 
good pleasure. But for the present I must request you to 
retire to your own apartments! I feel myself much moved 
and exhausted, and have also to prepare some secret dis- 
patches for Count Lynar to take with him in his journey.” 

“ Count Lynar is, then, to leave us?” quickly asked the 
prince, in an evidently more friendly tone. 

“ Yes,” said Anna, “he leaves us for some weeks to visit 
the estate in Liefland which I have given to Julia as a 
bridal present, and to make there the necessary preparations 
for the proper reception of his wife.” 

Julia clasped the hands of her mistress, and bathed them 
with tears of joy and gratitude. 

“ Anna,” whispered Prince Ulrich, “I did you wrong. 
Pardon me.” 

Anna coldly responded : “I will pardon you if you will 
be generous enough to allow me a little repose.” 

The prince silently and respectfully withdrew. 

Anna finally, left alone with her lover and her favorite, 
sank exhausted upon a divan. 

“Olose the doors, Julia, that no one may surprise us,” 


68 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


she faintly murmured. “JI will take leave. Oh, I would 
be left for at least a quarter of an hour undisturbed in my 
unhappiness.” 

“Then it is true that you intend to drive me away?” 
asked Count Lynar, kneeling and clasping her hands. 
“You are determined to send me into banishment?” 

Anna gave him a glance of tenderness. 

“No,” said she, “I will send myself into banishment, 
for I shall not see you, dearest. But I felt that this sacri- 
fice was necessary. Julia has sacrificed herself for us. 
With another love in her heart, she has magnanimously 
thrown away her freedom and given up her maiden love for 
the promotion of our happiness. We owe it to her to pre- 
serve her honor untarnished, that the calumnious crowd 
may not pry into the motives of her generous act. For Ju- 
lia’s sake, the world must and shall believe that she is in 
fact your wife, and that it was love that united you. We 
must, therefore, preserve appearances, and you must con- 
duct your wife to your estate in triumph. Decency requires 
it, and we cannot disregard its requirements.” 

“ Princess Anna is in the right,” said Julia; “ you must 
absent yourself for a few weeks—not for my sake, who lit- 
tle desire any such triumph, but that the world may believe 
the tale, and no longer suspect my princess.” 

It was a sweetly painful hour—a farewell so tearful, and 
yet so full of deeply-felt happiness. On that very night 
was the count to commence his journey to Liefland and 
Warsaw. As they wished to make no secret of the mar- 
riage, the count needed the consent of his court and his 
family. 





= 


NO LOVE. 69 


Anna provided him with letters and passports. The best 
and fairest of the estates of the crown in Liefland was as- 
signed to Julia as a bridal present, and the count was fur- 
nished with the proper documents to enable him to take 
possession of it.* 

And finally came the parting moment! For the last 
time they lay in each other’s arms; they mutually swore 
eternal love, unconquerable fidelity—all that a loving 
couple could swear ! 

Tearing himself from her embrace, he rushed to the 
door. 

Anna stretches out her arms toward him, her brow is 
pallid, her eyes fixed. The door opens, he turns for one 
last look, and nods a farewell. Ah, with her last glance 
she would forever enchain that noble and beautiful face— 
with her extended arms she would forever retain that ma- 
jestic form. 

“ Farewell, Anna, farewell!” 

The door closes behind him—he is gone! 

A cold shudder convulsed Anna’s form, a bodeful fear 
took possession of her mind. It lay upon her heart like a 
dark mourning-veil. 

“T shall never, never see him again!” she shrieked. 
sinking unconscious into Julia’s arms. 


* Levecque, vol. v., p. 222. 


70 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


CHAPTER IX. 


PRINCESS ELIZABETH. 


WHILE a Mecklenburg princess had attained to the re- 
gency of Russia, and while her son was hailed as emperor, 
the Princess Elizabeth lived alone and unnoticed in her 
small and modestly-furnished palace. German princes sat 
upon the Russian throne, and yet in St. Petersburg was liv- 
ing the only rightful heir to the empire, the daughter of 
_ Czar Peter the Great! And as she was young, beautiful, © 
and amiable, how came she to be set aside to make room 
for a stranger upon the throne of her father, which belonged 
to her alone? 

Princess Elizabeth had voluntarily kept aloof from all 
political intrigues and all revolutions. In the interior of 
her palace she passed happy days; her world, her life, and 
her pleasures were there. Princess Elizabeth desired not 
to reign; her only wish was to love and be loved. The in- 
toxicating splendor of worldly greatness was not so inviting 
to her as the more intoxicating pleasure of blessed and 
happy love. She would, above all things, be a woman, and 
enjoy the full possession of her youth and happiness. 

What cared she that her own rightful throne was occu- 
pied by a stranger—what cared she for the blinding shim- 
mer of acrown? Ah, it troubled her not that she was poor, 
and possessed not even the means of bestowing presents 
upon her favorites and friends. But she felt happy in her 
poverty, for she was free to love whom she would, to raise 
to herself whomsoever she might please. 


——" == 


PRINCESS ELIZABETH. 71 


It was a festival day that they were celebrating in the 
humble palace of the emperor’s daughter Elizabeth—cer- 
tainly a festival day, for it was the name-day of the prin- 
cess. 

The rooms were adorned with festoons and garlands, and 
all her dependants and friends were gathered around her. 
Elizabeth saw not the limited number of this band; she 
enjoyed herself with those who were there, and lamented 
not the much greater number of those who had forgotten 
her. 

She was among her friends, in her little reception-room. 
Evening had come, the household and the less trusted and 
favored of her adherents had withdrawn, and only the most 
intimate, most favored friends now remained with the 
princess. 

They had conversed so long that they now recurred to 
the enjoyment of that always-ready, always-pleasing art, 
music. A young man sang to the accompaniment of a 
guitar. | 

Elizabeth listened, listlessly reclining upon her divan. 
Behind her stood two gentlemen, who, like her, were de- 
lightedly listening to the singing of the youth. 

Elizabeth was a blooming, beautiful woman. She was 
to-day charming to the eye in the crimson-velvet robe, em- 
proidered with silver, that enveloped her full, voluptuous 
form, leaving her neck and gorge free, and displaying the 
delicate whiteness of her skin in beautiful contrast with the 
purple of her robe. Perhaps a severe judge might not have 
pronounced her face handsome according to the rules of the 
antique, but it was one of those faces that please and be- 


72 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


witch the other sex; one of those beauties whose charm 
consists not so much in the regularity of the lines as in the 
ever-varying expression. ‘There was so much that was win- 
ning, enticing, supercilious, much-promising, and warm- 
glowing, in the face of this woman! The full, swelling, 
deep-red lips, how charming were they when she smiled; 
those dark, sparkling eyes, how seducing were they when 
shaded by a soft veil of emotional enthusiasm ; those faintly- 
blushing cheeks, that heaving bosom, that voluptuous form, 
yet resplendent with youthful gayety—for Elizabeth had 
not yet reached her thirtieth year—whom would she not 
have animated, excited, transported ? | 

Elizabeth knew she was beautiful and attractive, and 
this was her pride and her joy. She could easily pardon 
the German princess, Anna Leopoldowna, for oceupying the 
throne that was rightfully her own, but she would never 
have forgiven the regent had she been handsomer than her- 
self. Anna Leopoldowna was the most powerful woman in 
Russia, but she, Elizabeth, was the handsomest woman in 
Russia, which was all she coveted, and she had nothing 
more to desire. 

But at this moment she thought neither of Anna Leo- 
poldowna nor of her own beauty, but only of the singer who 
was warbling to her those Russian popular songs so full of 
love and sadness that they bring tears into the eyes and fill 
the heart with yearning. 

Elizabeth had forgotten all around her—she heard only 
him, saw only him; her whole soul lay in the glances with 
which she observed him, and around her mouth played one 
of those bewitching smiles peculiar to her in moments of 





PRINCESS ELIZABETH, 3 


joy and satisfaction, and which: her courtiers knew and ob- 
served. 

He was very handsome, this young singer, and as Eliza- 
beth saw him in this moment, she congratulated herself 
that her connoisseur-glance had quickly remarked him, 
when, some weeks previously, she had first seen him as the 
precentor of the imperial chapel. 

Surprised and excited by the beauty of his form and the 
sweetness of his voice, Elizabeth had begged him of the 
lord-marshal for her private service, and since then Alexis 
Razumovysky had entered her house as her private secretary 
and the manager of her small estate.* 

While Alexis was singing with his sweetly-melting tones, 
Elizabeth turned her swimming eyes to the two men who 
were standing in respectful silence behind her. 

“You must acknowledge,” said she in a low tone, and as 
if oppressed by internal commotion, “that you never saw 
nor heard any thing finer than my Alexis.” 

“Oh, yes,” said one of these men, with a low bow, “we 
have seen you!” | 

“And did we not yesterday hear you sing this same 
charming slumber-song, princess?” asked the other. 

Elizabeth smiled. “It is already well known that Wo- 
ronzow and Griinstein must always flatter!” said she. 

“No, we do not flatter,” responded Woronzow, the cham- 
berlain of the princess, “we only love truth! You ask if 
we have ever seen any thing more beautiful than your pri- 
vate secretary, and we answer that we have seen you!” 


* Masson, *‘ Mémoires Secrétes,” vol. ii. 
6 


74 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


Well, now, you have all so often assured me that I am 
the handsomest woman in Russia, that at length I am com- 
pelled to believe you. But Alexis is fortunately a man, and 
therefore not my rival; you may, then, fearlessly confess 
that Alexis is the handsomest of all men! But how is 
this?” exclaimed the princess, interrupting herself, as the 
handsome young singer suddenly sprang up and threw his 
guitar aside with an indignant movement; “do you sing no 
more, Alexis?” 

“No,” frowardly responded the young man, “I sing no 
more, when my princess no longer listens!” 

“There, see the ungrateful man,” said the princess, with 
a charming smile—“ he was occupying all my thoughts, and 
yet he dares complain! You are a malefactor deserving 
punishment. Come here to me, Alexis; kneel, kiss my 
hand, and beg for pardon, you calumniator !” 

“That is a punishment for which angels might be 
grateful!” responded Alexis Razumovsky, kneeling to the 
princess and pressing her hand to his burning lips. “ Ah, 
that I might oftener incur such punishment!” 

“Do you then prefer punishment to reward?” asked 
Elizabeth, tenderly bending down to him and nition deep 
into his eyes. 

“She loves him!” whispered Grinstein to the chamber- 
lain Woronzow. “She certainly loves him!” 

Elizabeth’s fine ear caught these words, and, slowly 
turning her head, she slightly nodded. “ Yes,” said she, 
_ “Grinstein is right—she loves him! Congratulate me, 
therefore, my friends, that the desert void in my heart is at 
length filled—congratulate me for loving him. Ah, noth- 


PRINCESS ELIZABETH, 45 


ing is sweeter, holier, or more precious than love; and I 
can tell you that we women are happy only when we are 
under the influence of that divine passion. Congratulate 
me, then, my friends, for, thank God, I am in love! Now, 
Alexis, what have you to say?” 

“There are no words to express such a happiness,” cried 
Alexis, pressing the feet of the princess to his bosom. 

“‘ Happiness, then, strikes you dumb,” laughed the prin- 
cess, “and will not allow you to say that you love me? 
Such are all you men. You envelope yourselves with a 
convenient silence, and would make us poor women believe 
the superabundance of feeling deprives you of utterance.” 

At this moment the door was softly opened, and a 
lackey, who made his appearance at the threshold, beck- 
oned to Woronzow. 

“What is it, Woronzow?” asked the princess, while, 
wholly unembarrassed by the presence of the lackey, she 
played with the profuse dark locks of the kneeling Ra- 
zumovsky. 

“An invitation from the Regent Anna to a court-ball, 
which is to take place fourteen days hence,” said Woron- 
zow. | 

“ Ah, our good cousin is, then, so gracious as to remem- 
ber us,” cried the princess, with a somewhat clouded brow. 
“Tt will certainly be a very magnificent festival, as we are 
invited so many days in advance. How sad that I cannot 
have the pleasure of being present!” 

“ And why not, if one may be allowed to ask, princess?” 
asked Woronzow. 

“Why?” sighed Elizabeth. “Ask my waiting-woman ; 


46 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


she will tell you that the Princess Elizabeth, daughter of 
the great Ozar Peter, has not one single robe splendid 
enough to render her presentable, without mortification, at 
a court-ball of the regent.” 

“Whatever robe you may wear,” passionately interposed 
Alexis, “you will still be resplendent, for your beauty will 
impart a divine halo to any dress!” 

That was precisely the kind of flattery pleasing to Eliz- 
abeth. 

“Think you so, flatterer?” asked Elizabeth. “ Well, 
for once I will believe your words, and assume that the 
Princess Elizabeth may be fair without the aid of splendor 
in dress. We therefore accept the invitation, Woronzow. 
Announce that to the regent’s messenger. But still it is 
sad and humiliating,” continued Elizabeth after a pause, a 
cloud passing over her usually so cheerful countenance, 
“‘ ves, it is still a melancholy circumstance for the daughter 
of the great Peter to be so poor that she is not able to 
dress herself suitably to her rank. Ah, how humiliating 
is the elevation of my high position, when I cannot even 
properly reward you, my friends, for your fidelity and 
attachment !” 

“You will one day be able to reward us,” significantly 
remarked Grinstein. “One day, when an imperial crown 
surmounts your fair brows, then will your generous heart 
be able to act according to its noble instincts.” 

“Still the same old dreams!” said Elizabeth, shaking 
her head and letting Razumovsky’s long locks glide through 
her fingers. “Pay no attention to him, Alexis, he is an 
enthusiast who dreams of imperial crowns, while I desire 





es fe ee, ee ee ee eee 


— 





ee ee ee” eee a ee ee 
- —_— —_———— ne — 


PRINCESS ELIZABETH. 77 


nothing but a ball-dress, that in it I may please you, my 
friend !” 

“Oh, you always please me,” whispered Alexis, “ and 
most pleasing are you when—” 

The conclusion of his flattering speech he whispered so 
low that it was heard by no one but the princess. 

Patting his cheek with her little round hand, she 


‘blushed, but not for shame, as she did not cast down 


her eyes, but answered with a glowing glance the tender 
looks of her lover. She blushed only from an internal 
passionate excitement, while her bosom stormily rose and 
fell. , 

“ You are very saucy, Alexis,” said she, but at the same 
time lightly kissing him upon the forehead, and smiling; 
but then her brow was suddenly clouded, for the door was 
again opened and once more the lackey appeared upon the 
threshold. 

“'The French ambassador,” said he, “the Marquis de la 
Chetardie, begs the favor of an audience.” 

“Ah, the good marquis!” cried the princess, rising 
from her reclining position. “Conduct him in, he is ve.'y 
welcome.” 

The lackey opened both wings of the folding-door, and 
the marquis entered, followed by several servants with 
boxes and packets. 

“ Ah, you come very much like a milliner,” laughingly 
exclaimed Elizabeth, graciously advancing to receive the 
ambassador. 

Dropping upon one knee, the marquis kissed her of- 
fered hand. 


78 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, — 


“T come, illustrious Princess Elizabeth, to beg a favor 
of you!.” he said. | 

“You wish to mortify me,” responded Elizabeth. 
“‘ How can the ambassador of a great and powerful nation 
have a favor to ask of the poor, repudiated, and forgotten 
Princess Elizabeth ?” 

“In the name of the king my master come I to demand 
this favor!” solemnly answered the marquis. 

“Well, if you really speak in earnest,” said the princess, 
“then I have only to respond that it will make me very 
happy to comply with any request which your august king 
or yourself may have to make of me.” 

“Then I may be allowed, on this occasion of the cele- 
bration of your name-day, to lay at your feet these tri- 
fling presents of my royal master,” said the ambassador of 
France, rising to take the boxes and packages from the 
lackeys and place them before Elizabeth. 

“ They are only trifles,” continued he, while assiduously 
occupied in opening the boxes, “ trifles of little value—only 
interesting, perhaps, because they are novelties that have as 
yet been worn in Paris by no lady except the queen and 
madame ! 

“This mantelet of Valenciennes lace,’ continued the 
busy marquis, unfolding before the princess a magically 
fine lace texture, “this mantelet is sent by the Queen of 
France to the illustrious Princess Elizabeth. Only two 
such mantelets have been made, and her majesty has 
strictly commanded that no more of a similar pattern shall 
be commenced.” 

Princess Elizabeth’s eyes sparkled with delight. Like a 


ae 


SE ee ee ee eee 


Se 


PRINCESS ELIZABETH. 79 


curious child she fluttered from one box to the other, and 
in fact they were very costly, tasteful, and charming things 
which their majesties of France had sent to the Princess 
Elizabeth, who prized nothing higher than splendor in 
dress and ornaments. 

There were the most beautiful gold-embroidered velvet 
robes, light crape and lace dresses, and hats and topknots 
of charming elegance. 

Elizabeth examined and admired all; she clapped her 
hands with delight when any one of these precious presents 
especially pleased her, calling Alexis, Grinstein, and Wo- 
ronzow to share her joy and admiration. 

“Now will it bea triumph for me to appear at this 
ball!” said Elizabeth, exultingly; “ah, how beautiful it is 
of your king that he has sent me these magnificent presents 
to-day, and not eight days later! I shall excite the envy of 
the regent and all the court ladies with these charming 
things, which no one besides myself will possess.” 

And the princess was constantly renewing her examina- 
tion of the presents, and breaking out into ecstasies over 
their beauty. 

The Marquis de la Chetardie smilingly listened to her, 
told her much about Paris and its splendors, declaring that 
even in Paris there was no lady who could be compared to 
the fair Princess Elizabeth. 

“ Ah,” remarked Elizabeth, smilingly threatening him 
with her finger, “you would speak differently if the queen 
or some other lady of your court were standing by my 
side!” 


“No,” seriously replied the marquis, “ I would fall at the 


80 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


feet of my queen and say: ‘ You are my queen, judge me, 
condemn me, my life is in your hand. You are the Queen 
of France, and as such I bend before you; but Princess 
Elizabeth is the queen of beauty, and as such IJ adore her!’” 

Princess Elizabeth smiled, and with harmless uncon- 
straint chatted yet a long time with the shrewd and versa- 
tile ambassador of the French king. | 

“T have yet one more request to make,” said the mar- 
quis, when about to take leave. “ But it is a request that 
no one but yourself must hear, princess ! ” 

Elizabeth signed to her friends to withdraw into the 
open anteroom. 

“ Well, marquis,” she then said with some curiosity, “let 
me now hear what else you have to ask.” } 

“My king and master has learned with regret that the 
noble Princess Elizabeth is not surrounded with that wealth 
and splendor which is her due as the daughter of the great — 
emperor and the rightful heir to the Russian throne. My 
king begs the favor of being allowed to make good the delin- 
quency toward you of the present Russian regency, and that 
he may have the pleasure of providing you with the means 
necessary to enable you to establish a court suitable to your 
birth and position. I am provided with sufficient funds for 
these purposes. You have only to send me by your physi- 
cian in ordinary, Lestocq, a quittance signed by you, and 
any sum you may require will be immediately paid !” * 

“ Oh,” said the princess, with emotion, “I shall never be 
able sufficiently to testify my gratitude to the generous 


* Levecque, vol. v., p. 224. 


—— a wer en ee a 


es wae 


i 


a aS 


oe, a ee ee ee 


PRINCESS ELIZABETH. 81 


King of France. I am a poor, insignificant woman, who 
can thankfully accept but never requite his kindness.” 

“ Who knows?” said the marquis significantly. “ You 
may one day become the most powerful woman in Europe, 
for your birth and your destiny call you to the throne.” 

*“ Oh, I know you are Lestocq’s friend, and share his 
dreams,” said the princess. “ But let us not now speak of 
impossibilities, nor idly jest, while I am deeply touched by 
the generous friendship of your sovereign. That I accept 
his offer, may prove to him and you how much I love and 
respect him; for we willingly incur obligations only to those 
who are so highly estimated that we gratefully subordinate 
ourselves to them. Write this to your king.” 

“And may I also write to him,” asked the marquis, 
“that this conversation will remain a secret, of which, above 
all things, the regent, Anna Leopoldowna, is to know 
nothing?” 

“* My imperial word of honor,” said the princess, “ that 
no one except ourselves and Lestocq, whom you yourself 
propose asa medium, shall know anything of this great 
generosity of your sovereign. God grant that a time may 
one day come when I may loudly and publicly acknowledge 
my great obligations to him!” 

“ That time will have come when you are Empress of 
Russia!” said the ambassador, taking his leave. 

“ Already one more who has taken it into his head to 
make an empress of me,” said the princess, as her three fa- 
vorites again entered. “Foolish people that you are! It 
does not satisfy you to be the friend of a Princess Elizabeth, 
but I must become an empress for your sakes.” 


82 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


“‘ How well the diadem would become that proud pure 
brow!” exclaimed Alexis, with animation. 

“ How happy would this poor Russia be under your mild 
sceptre !” said the chamberlain, Woronzow. 

“Yes, you owe it to all of us, to yourself and your peo- 
ple, to mount the throne of your fathers,” said Grinstein. 

“ But if I say to you that I will not?” cried the princess, 
reclining again upon her divan. “ The duties of an empress 
are very difficult and wearing. I love quiet and enjoyment ; 
and, moreover, this throne of my father, of which you speak 
so pathetically, is already occupied, and awaits me not. See 
you not your sublime Emperor Ivan, whom the regent- 
mother is rocking in his cradle? That is your emperor, 
before whom you can bow, and leave me unmolested with 
your imperial crown. Come, Alexis, sit down by me upon 
this tabouret. We will take another look at these magnifi- 
cent presents. Ah! truly they are dearer to me than the 
possession of empire.” 

“The Princess Elizabeth can thus speak only in jest,” 
said an earnest voice behind them. 

“ Ah, Lestocq!” cried the princess, with a friendly nod. 
* You come very late, my friend.” 

“And yet too soon to bring you bad news!” said 
Lestocq, with a profound and respectful bow to the princess. 

“Bad news?” repeated Elizabeth, turning pale. “ Mon 
Dieu, am I, then, one too many for them here? Would 
they kill me, or send me in exile to Siberia?” 

“ Yet worse!” laconically responded Lestocq. “ But, 
_ first of all, let us be cautious, and take care that we have no 
listeners.” And, crossing the room, Lestocq closed all the 


i al te en 


A CONSPIRACY, 83 


doors, ard carefully looked behind the window curtains to 
make sure that no one was concealed there. “ Now, prin- 
cess,” he commenced, in a tone of solemnity, “ now listen to 
what J have to say to you.” 


CHAPTER X. 


A CONSPIRACY. 


A MOMENTARY pause followed. Princess Elizabeth si- 
lently motioned her friends to be seated, and drew her 
favorite Alexis nearer to her. 

Lestocq, her physician and confidant, with a solemn 
countenance, took a place opposite her. 

“We are ready to hear your bad news,” said the princess. 

“The regent, Anna Leopoldowna, will have herself 
crowned as empress,” laconically responded Lestocq. 

Elizabeth looked at him interrogatively and with curios- 
ity for the continuation of his bad news. But as Lestocq 
remained silent, she asked with astonishment: “ Is that all 
you have to tell us?” 

“ Preliminarily, that is all,” answered Lestocq. 

Princess Elizabeth broke out with a joyous laugh. 

“ Well, this is, in fact, very comic. With a real Job’s 
mien you announce to us the worst news, and then inform 
us that Anna Leopoldowna is to be crowned empress! Let 
her be crowned! No one will interfere to prevent it, and 
she will be none the happier for it. No woman who has 
taken possession of the Russian throne as an independent 


84 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


princess has ever yet been happy. Ordo you think that 
Catharine, my lofty step-mother, was so? Believe me, upon 
the throne she trembled with fear of assassins; for it is well 
known that this Russian throne is surrounded by murderers, 
awaiting only the favorable moment. Ah, whenever I have 
stood in front of this imperial throne, it has always seemed 
to me that J saw the points of a thousand daggers peeping 
forth from its soft cushions! And you would have me seat 
myself upon such a dagger-beset throne? No, no, leave me 
-my peace and my repose. Let Anna Leopoldowna declare 
herself empress—what should I care? I should have to 
bend before her with my congratulations. That is all!” 

And the princess, letting her head glide upon Razu- 
movsky’s shoulder, as if exhausted by this long speech, 
closed her fatigued eyelids. 

“ Ah, if Czar Peter, your great father, could hear you,” 
sadly said Lestocq, “‘he would spurn you for such pusilla- 
nimity, princess.” 

“Tt is, therefore, fortunate for me that he is dead,” said 
the princess, with a smile. “And now, my dear Lestocq, if 
you know nothing further, let this suffice you: I tell you, 
once for all, that I have no desire for this imperial throne. 
I would crown my head with roses and myrtles, but not with 
that golden circle which would crush me to the earth. 
Therefore, trouble me no more on this subject. Be con- 
tent with what I am, and if you cannot, well—then I must 
be reconciled to being abandoned by you!” 

“T will never desert you, even if I must follow you to 
suffering and death!” exclaimed Alexis Razumevsky, cast- 
ing himself at the feet of the princess. 


= 


— 





ee eo er Or ae es 


ee 





——_ ~~ —_ . 





‘A CONSPIRACY. A 


“ We will remain true and faithful to you unto death!” 
eried Woronzow and Grinstein. 

“Well, and you alone remain silent, Lestocq?” asked 
the princess, with tears in her eyes. 

“JT have not yet come to the end of my bad news,” said 
Lestocq, with a clouded brow. 

“Ah!” jestingly interposed the princess, “you would, 


perhaps, as further bad news, inform us that the Emperor 


Ivan has cut his first tooth!” 

“No,” said Lestocq, “I would only say to you, that the 
18th of December, the day on which the regent is to be 
crowned as empress, the 18th of December is the day as- 
signed for the marriage of the Princess Elizabeth with 
Prince Louis of Brunswick, the new Duke of Courland!” 

The princess sprang up from her seat as if stung by an 
adder. Alexis Razumovsky, who still knelt at her feet, ut- 
tered loud lamentations, in which Woronzow and Griinstein 
soon joined. With calm triumph Lestocq observed the ef- 
fect produced by his words. 

“What are you saying there?” at length Elizabeth 
breathlessly asked. 

“*T say that on the 18th of December the Princess Eliza- 
beth is to be married to Prince Louis of Brunswick, who has 
already come to St. Petersburg for that purpose,” calmly 
answered Lestocq. 

“ And I say,” cried the princess, “ that no such marriage 
will ever take place!” 

Lestocq shrugged his shoulders. “ Princess Elizabeth is 
a gentle, peace-loving, always suffering lamb,” he said. 

“But Princess Elizabeth can become a tigress when it 


86 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


concerns the defence of her holiest rights!” exclaimed the 
princess, pacing the room in violent excitement. 

“ Ah,” she continued, “they are not then satisfied with 
delivering me over to poverty and abandonment; it does not 
suffice them to see me so deeply humiliated as to receive alms 
from this regent who occupies the throne that belongs to 
me. They would rob me of my last and only remaining 
blessing, my personal freedom! ‘They would make my poor 
heart a prisoner, and bind it with the chains and fetters of 
a marriage which I abhor! No, no, I tell you that shall 
they never do.” 

And the princess, quite beside herself with rage, stamped 
her feet and doubled up her little hands into fists. Now 
was she her father’s real and not unworthy daughter ; Ozar 
Peter’s bold and savage spirit flashed from her eyes, his 
scorn and courageous determination spoke from her wildly 
excited features. She saw not, she heard not what was 
passing around her; she was wholly occupied with her own 
angry thoughts, and with those dreadful images which the 
mere idea of marriage had conjured up. 

Her four favorites stood together at some distance, ob- 
serving her with silent sympathy. 

“Tt is now for you, Alexis Razumovsky, to complete 
the work we have begun,” whispered Lestocq to him. 
“ Elizabeth loves you; you must nourish in her this abhor- 
rence of a marriage with the prince. You must. make 
yourself so loved, that she will dare all rather than lose 
you! We have long enough remained in a state of abject- 
ness; it is time to labor for our advancement. To the 
work, to the work, Alexis Razumovsky! We must make 


* <A GONSPIRACY. ST 


an empress of this Elizabeth, that she may raise us to 
wealth and dignities !” 

“ Rely upon me,” whispered Alexis, “she must and shall 
join in our plans.” 

He approached the princess, who was walking the room 
in a state of the most violent agitation, giving vent to her 
internal excitement and anger in loud exclamations and 
bitter curses. 

“T must therefore die!” sighed Alexis, pressing Eliza- 
beth’s trembling hand to his lips. “Kill me, princess, 
thrust a dagger in my heart, that I at least may not live to 
see you married to another!” 

“No, you shall not die,” cried Elizabeth, with fierce 
vehemence, throwing her arms around Razumovysky’s neck. 
“7 will know how to defend you and myself, Alexis! Ah, 
they would shackle me,—they would force me to marry, 
because they know I hate marriage. Yes, I hate those un- 
natural fetters which would command my heart, force it 
into obedience to an unnatural law, and degrade divine free 
love, which would flutter from flower to flower, into a 
necessity and a duty. It is an unnatural law which 
would compel us forever to love a man because he pleased 
us yesterday or may please us to-day, and who perhaps 
may not please us to-morrow, while on the next day he 
may excite only repugnance! Would they forge these 
matrimonial chains for me? Ah, Regent Anna, you are 
this time mistaken; you may be all-powerful in this em- 
pire, but you cannot and shall not extend that power over 
me!” 

“And how,” asked Lestocq, shrugging his shoulders, 


88 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


“how will Princess Elizabeth oppose the regent or empress ? 
What weapon has she with which to contend ?’ 

“ Tf it must be so, I will oppose power to power!” pas- 
sionately'exclaimed the princess. ‘ Yes, when it comes to 
the defence of my freedom and my personal rights I will 
then have the courage to dare all, defy all; then will I 
shake off the lethargy of contented mediocrity, and. upon 
the throne will find that freedom which Anna would tread 
under foot!” 


** Long live our future empress! Long live Elizabeth !” 
cried the men with wild excitement. 

“*T have long withstood you, my friends,” said Elizabeth, 
“T have not coveted this imperial Russian crown, but much 
less have I desired that crown of thorns a compulsory mar- 
riage. Jam now ready for the struggle, and, if it must be 
so, let a revolution, let streams of blood decide whether the 
Regent Anna Leopoldowna or the daughter of Peter the 
Great has the best right to govern this land and prescribe 
its laws!” 

“Ah, now are you really your great father’s great 
daughter!” cried Lestocq, and bending a knee before the 
princess, he continued: “ Let me be the first to pay you 
homage, the first to swear eternal fidelity to you, our Em- 
press Elizabeth.” : 

“ Receive also my oath, Empress Elizabeth,” said Alexis, 
falling upon his knees before her, “receive the oaths of your 
slaves who desire nothing but to devote their bodies and 
souls to your service ! ” 

“ Let me, also, do homage to you, Empress Elizabeth!” 
exclaimed Woronzow, falling to the earth. 


—S 


—s 











eS tl 


ee ee eS 


a 


A CONSPIRACY. 89 


“ And I, too, will lie at your feet and declare myself 
your: slave, Empress Elizabeth!” said Griinstein, kneeling 
with the others. 

But Elizabeth’s anger was already past; only a moment- 
ary storm-wind had lashed her gently flowing blood into 
the high foaming waves of rage; now all again was calm 
within her, and consequently this solemn homage scene of 
her four kneeling friends made only a comic impression 
upon her. 

She burst into a loud laugh; astonished and half angry, 
the kneeling men looked up to her, and that only increasea 
her hilarity. 

“ Ah, this is infinitely amusing,” said the princess, con- 
tinuing to laugh; “ there lie my vassals, and what vassals! 
Herr Lestocq, a physician; Herr Griinstein,a bankrupt 
shopkeeper and now under-officer; Herr Woronzow, cham- 
berlain ; and Alexis Razumovsky, my private secretary. And 
here am I, the empress of such vassals, and what sort of an 
empress? An empress of four subjects, an empress without 
a throne and without a crown, without land and without a 
people—an empress who never was and never will be an 
empress! And in this solemn buffoonery you cut such 
serious faces as might make one die with laughter.” 

The princess threw herself upon the divan and laughed 
until the tears ran down her cheeks. 

“ Princess,” said Lestocq, rising, “these four men, at 
whom you now laugh, will make you empress, and then it 
will be in your power to convert this chirurgeon into a 


privy councillor and court physician, this bankrupt mer- 


chant into a rich banker, this chamberlain into an imperial 
" 


90 THE DAUGHTER UH AN EMPRESS. 


lord-marshal, and your private secretary into a count or 
prince of the empire.” 

The eyes of the princess shone yet brighter, and with a 
tender glance at Alexis Razumovsky she said: “ Yes, I will 
make him a prince and overload him with presents and 
honors. Ah, that is an object worth the pains of struggling 
for an imperial crown.” 

“No, no,” interposed Alexis, kissing her hand, “I need 
neither wealth nor titles; I need nothing, desire nothing 
but to be near you, to be able to breathe the air that has 
fanned your cheek. I desire nothing for myself, but every- 
thing for my friends here, with whose faithful aid we shall 
soon be enabled to greet you a real empress.” 

Elizabeth’s brow beamed with the purest blessedness. 
“You are as unselfish as the angels in heaven, my Alexis,” 
said she. “It suffices you that lam Elizabeth, you lan- 
guish not for this imperial title which these others would 
force upon me.” ; 

Alexis smilingly shook his fine head. “ You err, prin- 
cess,” said he; “I would freely and joyfully give my heart’s 
blood, could I this day but salute you as empress!” I 
should then, at least, have no more to fear from this strange 
prince whom they would compel you to marry! ” 

A cloud passed over the brow of the princess. “ Yes, 
you are right,” said she, “we must avoid that at all events, 
and if there are no other means, very well, I shall know 
what to decide upon—I shall venture an attempt to dethrone 
the regent and make myself empress! But, my friends, let 
that now suffice. I need rest. Call my women to undress 
me, Woronzow. Good-night, good-night, my high and 





A CONSPIRACY. 91 


lofty vassals, your great and powerful empress allows you 
to kiss her hand !” 

With a pleasing graciousness she extended her fair 
hands to her friends, who respectfully pressed them to their 
lips and then departed. 

“ Alexis!” called the princess, as Razumovsky was about 
to withdraw with the others—‘ Alexis, you will remain 
awhile. While my women are undressing me, you shall 
sing me to sleep with that charming slumber-song you sing 
so splendidly !” 

Alexis smiled and remained. 

A quarter of an hour later deep silence prevailed in the 
dark palace of Elizabeth, and through the stillness of the 
night was heard only the sweetly-melodious voice of the 
handsome Alexis, who was singing his slumber-song to the 
princess. 

From this day forward her four trusted friends left the 
princess no peace. They so stormed her with prayers and 
supplications, Alexis so well knew how to represent his 
despair at her approaching and unavoidable marriage, that 
the amiable princess, to satisfy her friends and be left her- 
self at peace, declared herself ready to sanction the plans 
of her confidants and enter into a conspiracy against the 
regent. 

Soon a small party was formed for the cause of the 
princess. Griinstein—who, as the princess had said, from 
a bankrupt merchant had attained the position of  sub- 
ordinate officer—Griinstein had succeeded in winning for 
the cause of the princess some fifty grenadiers of the Preo- 
brajensky regiment, to which he belonged ; and these people, 


92 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


drunkards and dissolute fellows, were the principal props 
upon which Elizabeth’s throne was to be established! ‘They 
were neither particular about the means resorted to for the 
accomplishment of the proposed revolution, nor careful to 
envelop their movements in secrecy. 

Elizabeth soon began to find pleasure and distraction in 
exciting the enthusiasm of the soldiers. She often repaired 
to the caserns of the guards, and her mildness and affability 
won for her the hearts of the rough soldiers accustomed to 
‘slavish subjection. When she rode through the streets, it 
was not an unusual occurrence to see common soldiers ap- 
proach her sledge and converse familiarly with her. Wher- 
ever she showed herself, there the soldiers received her with 
shouts, and the palace of the princess was always open 
to them. In this way Elizabeth made herself popular, and 
the Regent Anna, who was informed of it, smiled at it with 
indifference. | 

Just as incautiously did Elizabeth’s fanatical political 
manager, Lestocq, set about his work. He made no secret 
of his intercourse with the French ambassador, and in the 
public coffee-houses he was often héard in a loud voice to 
prophesy an approaching political change. 

But with regard to all these imprudences it seemed as if 
the court and the regent were blinded by the most careless 
confidence, as if they could not see what was directly before 
their eyes. It was as if destiny covered those eyes with 
a veil, that they might not see, and against destiny even the 
great and the powerful of the earth struggle in vain. 


a eS CUMDt=Cg 


THE WARNING. 93 


CHAPTER XI. 


THE WARNING. 


Tue 4th of December, the day of the court-ball, to 
which Elizabeth had looked forward with a longing heart 
because of her anxiety to display at court her new Parisian 
dresses, at length had come. A most active movement pre- 
vailed in the palace of the regent. The lord-marshal and 
the chamberlains on service passed up and down through 
the rooms, overlooking with sharp eyes the various orna- 
ments, festoons, garlands, and draperies, to make sure that 
all was splendid, and tasteful, and magnificent. 

Anna Leopoldowna troubled herself very little about 
these busy movements in her palace. She was in her bou- 
doir, delightedly reading a letter from her distant lover, 
which had just been received under Julia’s address. She 
had already read this letter several times, but ever recom- 
menced it, and ever found some new word, some new phrase 
that proved to her the glowing love of her absent friend. 

*“ Ah, he still loves me,” murmured she, pressing the 
letter to her lips; “ he really loves me, and this short separa- 
tion will not estrange his heart, but cause it to glow with 
warmer passion! Oh, what a happiness will it be when he 
again returns! And he will return! Yes, he will be with 
me again on the 18th of December, and, animated by his 
glances, I shall for the first time appear in all the splendor 
of an imperial crown. Ah, they have no presentiment, my 
councillors and ministers, that I have selected the 18th of 
December for the ceremony precisely because it is the birth- 


94 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


day of my beloved! He will know it, he will understand 
why his Anna has chosen this particular day, and he will 
thank me with one of those proud and glowing glances 
which always made my heart tremulous with overpowering 
happiness. Oh, my Lynar, what a blessed moment will be 
that when I see you again !” 

A slight knock at the door interrupted the imaginings 
of the princess. It was Julia von Mengden, who came to 
announce the old Count Ostermann. 

“ And is it for him that you disturb my delightful soli- 
tude?” asked the princess, somewhat reproachfully. “Is 
this Count Ostermann, is this whole miserable realm of so 
much importance to me as the sweet contemplation of a 
letter from my friend? When I am reading his letter it 
seems to me that my beloved himself is at my side, and 
therefore you must clearly see that I cannot receive Count 
Ostermann, as Lynar is with me!” 

“Put your letter and your lover in your bosom,” said 
Julia, with a laugh; “he will be very happy there, and 
then you can receive the old count without betraying your 
lover’s presence! The count has so pressingly begged for 
an audience that I finally promised to intercede with you 
for him.” 

“Ah, this eternal business!” angrily exclaimed the 
princess. ‘‘ They will never let me have any peace; they 
harass me the whole day. Even now, when it is time to be 
making my toilet for the ball—even now I must be tor- 
mented with affairs of state.” 

“ Shall I, then, send away Count Ostermann?” sulkily 
asked Julia. 





a a a 


a a ee ee eee ee ee eo 





THE WARNING. 95 


“That I may, consequently, for the whole evening see 
you with a dissatisfied face? No, let him come; but forget 
not that I submit to this annoyance only to please you.” 

With a grateful smile, Julia kissed the regent’s hand, 
and then hastened to bear to Count Ostermana the favor- 
able answer. 

In a few minutes, Count Ostermann, painfully support- 
ing himself upon two crutches, entered the regent’s cabinet. 

Anna Leopoldowna received him, sitting in an arm- 
chair, and listlessly rummaging in a band-box filled with 
various articles of dress and embroidery, which had just 
been brought to her. 

“ Well,” said she, raising her eyes for a moment to 
glance at Ostermann, “you come at a very inconvenient 
hour, Herr Minister Count Ostermann. You see that I am 
already occupied with my toilet, and am endeavoring to 
find a suitable head-dress. Will you aid me in the choice, 
sir count?” 

Ostermann had until now, painfully and with many sup- 
pressed groans, sustained himself upon his feet; at a silent 
nod from the princess he glided down into a chair, and 
staring at Anna with his piercing and wonderfully-flashing 
eyes, he said : 

“Your highness would select a head-dress? Well, as 
you ask my advice in the matter, I will give it; choose a 
head-dress so firm and solid as to prove a fortification for 
the defence of your head. Choose a head-dress that will 
protect you against conspiracies and revolutions, against 
false friends and smiling enemies! Choose a head-dress 
that will keep your head upon your shoulders!” 


96 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


“Count Ostermann speaks in riddles,” said Anna, smil- 
ing, and at the same time arranging a wreath of artificial 
roses. ‘Or no, it was not Count Ostermann, but a toad 
singing his hoarse song. Drive away that toad, Ostermann, 
it is broad day—why, then, have we the croaking of such 
night-birds ?” 

“Listen to the croaking of this toad,” anxiously re- 
sponded the old man. “Believe me, princess, when the 
toads croak in broad daylight, it betokens an approaching 
misfortune. Let it warn you, Madame Regent Anna! 
You have called me a toad—very well, toads always have 
correctly prophesied misfortune, and if they can never avert 
it, it is because overwise people will not listen to such 
oracular voices of all-wise Nature! Let me be your toad, 
your highness, and listen to me! I foresee misfortune for 
you. Believe my prophecy, and that misfortune may yet be 
averted. Mark the signs by which fate would warn you! 
Did you not yesterday see Elizabeth driving through the 
streets, chatting and jesting with the soldiers, who crowded 
around her sledge? Have you not heard how the grenadiers 
of the Preobrajensky regiment shouted after her? Has it 
not been told you that Lestocq holds secret intercourse with 
the French ambassador, and know you not that Lestocq is 
the confidential servant of the princess? Guard yourself 
against Princess Elizabeth, your highness!” 

“ Are you in earnest?” smilingly asked Anna, drawing 
her silver toilet-glass nearer to her person, and placing a 
bouquet of flowers in her hair to examine its effect in the 
glass. 

“ Oh, Heavens!” cried Count Ostermann, “ you adorn 





THE WARNING. 97 


yourself with flowers, while I am telling you that you are 
threatened with a conspiracy!” 

“A conspiracy!” laughed the regent, “and Princess 
Elizabeth to be at the head of it! Believe me, you overwise 
men, with all your wisdom, never learn rightly to under- 
stand women. I, however, am a woman, and I understand 
Elizabeth. You think that when she kindly chats with the 
soldiers, and admits the handsome stately grenadiers into 
her house, it is done for the purpose of conspiring with 
them. Go to, Count Ostermann, you are very innocent. 
Princess Elizabeth has but one passion, but it is not the 
-desire of ruling; and when she chats with handsome men, 
she speaks not of conspiracy, believe me.” And, laughing, 
the regent essayed a new head-dress. 

“And how do you explain the secret meetings of Les- 
tocq and the Marquis de la Chetardie?” asked Ostermann, 
with painfully-suppressed agitation. 

“Explain? Why should I seek an explanation for 
things that do not at all interest me? What is it to me 
what the surgeon Lestocq has to do with the constantly- 
ailing French ambassador? Or do you think I should 
trouble myself about the Javements administered to an am- 
bassador by a surgeon ?” 

“ Well, then, your highness will allow me to explain 
their meetings from a less medical point of view? France is 
your enemy, France meditates your destruction, and the 
Marquis de la Chetardie is exciting the princess and Les- 
tocq to an insurrection.” 

“ And to what end, if I may be allowed to ask?” scorn- 
tully inquired Anna. 


98 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


“France, struggling with internal and foreign enemies, 
at war with Austria, involved in disputes with Holland and 
Spain, France would wish at any price to see the Russian 
government so occupied with her own domestic difficulties 
as to have no time to devote to international affairs. She 
would provide you with plenty of occupation at home, that 
you may not actively interfere with the affairs of the rest of 
the world. ‘That is the shrewd policy of France, and it 
would fill me with admiration were it not fraught with the 
most terrible danger to us. The Marquis de la Chetardie 
has it in charge to bring about a revolution here at any 
price, and as an expert diplomatist, he very well compre- 
hends that Princess Elizabeth is the best means he can 
employ for that purpose; for she, as the daughter of Ozar 
Peter, has the sympathies of the old Russians in her favor, 
and they will flock to her with shouts of joy whenever she 
may announce tothe people that she is ready to drive the 
foreign rulers from Russia!” 

“Ah, our good Russians,” laughingly exclaimed the 
regent, “they shout only for those who make them drunk, 
and for that the poor princess lacks the means! ” 

“The Marquis de la Chetardie has, in the name of his 
king, offered her an unlimited credit, and she is already 
provided with almost a million of silver rubles.” 

“You have a reason for every thing,” laughed the 
regent. ‘The princess is poor; let the French ambas- 
sador quickly provide her with his millions. The good 
princess, I wish she had these millions, and then she 
could indulge her love of ornaments and magnificent 
dresses.” 


ee 


THE WARNING. 99 


“The marquis has brought her rich dresses and stuffs 
from Paris,” said Ostermann, laconically. 

The regent burst into a clear, ringing laugh. 

“The marquis is a real dews ex machina,” exclaimed she. 
“ Wherever you need him, he appears and helps you out of 
your trouble. But seriously, my dear count, let it now 
suffice with these gloomy suspicions. They are already 
commencing the dance-music, and you will put me out of 
tune with your croaking. A ball, my dear count, requires 
that one should be in and not out of tune, and you are pur- 
suing the best course to frighten the smiles from my lips.” 

“ Oh, could I but do that!” cried Ostermann, wringing 
his hands—* could I but cry in your ear with a voice of 
thunder: ‘ Princess, awake from this slumber of indiffer- 
ence, force yourself to act, save your son, your husband, 
your friends; for we are all, all lost with you!’” 

“Oh, speaking of my son,” smilingly interposed the 
regent, “you must see a splendid present which the Em- 
peror Ivan has this day received.” 

With this she took from a cartoon a small child’s dress, 
embroidered with gold and sparkling with brilliants, which 
she handed to the count.* 

“ Only look at this splendor,” said she. “The ladies of 
Moscow have embroidered this for the young emperor, and 
it has to-day been presented by a deputation. Will not the 


little emperor make a magnificent appearance in this bril- 


liant dress?” 
Count Ostermann did not answer immediately. His 


* Levecque, vol. v., p. 225. 


100 - THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


face had assumed a very painful expression, and deep sighs 
escaped his agitated breast. Slowly rising from his seat, 
with a sad glance at the princess, he said: 

“T see that your destruction is inevitable, and I cannot 
save you; you will be ruined, and we all with you. Well, I 
am an old man, and I pardon your highness, for you act. 
not thus from an evil disposition, but because you have a 
noble and confiding heart. Believe me, generosity and 
confidence are the worst failings with which a man can be 
tainted in this world—failings which always insure destruc. 
tion, and have only mockery and derision for an epitaph. 
You are no longer to be helped, duchess. You are on the 
borders of an abyss, into which you will smilingly plunge, 
dragging us all after you. Well, peace be with you! My 
sufferings have lately been so great, that I can only thank 
you for furnishing me with the means of quickly ending 
them! Madame, we shall meet again on the scaffold, or 
in Siberia! Until then, farewell!” 

And, without waiting for an answer from the regent, 
the old man, groaning, tottered out of the room. 

“Thank Heaven that he is gone!” said Anna, drawing 
a long breath when the door closed behind him. “This 
old ghost-seer has tormented me for months with his strange 
vagaries, which weigh upon his soul like the nightmare! 
Happily, thy letter, my beloved, has filled my whole heart 
with the ecstasy of joy, else would his dark and foolish 
prophecies be sufficient to sadden me.” 

Thus speaking, the princess again drew Count Lynar’s 
letter from her bosom and pressed it to her lips. Then she 
called her women to dress her for the ball. 


THE COURT BALL. 101 


CHAPTER XII. 


THE COURT BALL. 


Some hours later the élite of the higher Russian nobility 
were assembled in the magnificent halls of the regent. 
Princes and counts, generals and diplomatists, beautiful 
women and blooming maidens, all moved in a confused in- 
termixture, jesting and laughing with each other. They 
were all very gay on this evening, as the regent had herself 
set the example. With the most unconstrained cheerful- 
ness, radiant with joy, did she wander through the rooms, 
dispensing smiles and agreeable words among all whom she 
approached. She bore in her bosom the glowing and 
cherished letter of her lover, and at its lightest rustling she 
seemed to feel the immediate presence of the writer. That 
was the secret of her gayety and her joyous smiles. People, 
perhaps, knew not this secret, but they saw its effects, and, 
as the all-powerful regent deigned this day to be cheerful 
and smiling, it was natural for this host of slavish nobility, 
who breathe nothing but the air of the court, to adopt for 
this evening’s motto, “ Gayety and smiles.” 

As we have said, only smiling lips and faces beaming 
with joy were to be seen; all breathed pleasure and enjoy- 
ment, all jested and laughed; it seemed as if all care and 
sorrow had fled from this happy, select circle, to give place 
to the delights of life. They had, with submissive humility, 
repressed all discontent and disaffection, all envyings and 
enmities ; they chatted and laughed, while every one knew 
or suspected that they were standing on a volcano, whose 


102 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


overwhelming eruptions might be expected at any moment, 
and yet every one feigned the most perfect innocence and 
unconstraint. ‘The ladies scrutinized each other’s magnifi- 
cent and costly toilets, jesting and exchanging amorous 
glances with the gentlemen displaying orders and diamond 
crosses. 

A movement suddenly arose in the rooms, the crowd 
divided and respectfully withdrew to the sides, and through 
the rows of smiling, humbly bowing courtiers passed the 
Princess Elizabeth, followed by her chamberlain Woronzow, 
her private secretary Alexis Razumovsky, and her physician 
Lestocq, in the splendor of her beauty and grace, all kind- 
ness, all smiles. She was to-day wonderfully charming in 
her gold-spangled lace dress, which flowed like a breath 
over her under-dress of heavy white satin. Her widely- 
bared, full and luxuriant shoulders were partially covered. 
by a costly lace mantelet, the present of the French queen, 
and her long, floating ringlets were surmounted by a wreath 
of white roses such as only Parisian artistic skill could offer 
in such perfect imitation of nature. Thus enveloped as it 
were in a veil of white mist and floating vapors, Elizabeth’s 
beauty appeared only the more full and voluptuous. She 
looked like a purple rose standing out from a cloud of flut- 
tering snow-flakes, wonderfully charming, wonderfully se- 
ductive. Princess Elizabeth was fully conscious of the im- 
pression she made, and this internal satisfaction manifested 
itself in a sweet smile which increased the charm of her 
appearance. With pride and pleasure she enjoyed the tri- 
umph of being the. fairest of all the beauties present, and 
this triumph contented her heart. 


THE COURT BALL. 103 


The princess now approached her cousin, the Regent 
Anna, who came from the adjoining room to meet and wel- 
come her, and for one short moment the courtiers forgot 
her smiles and her inoffensiveness. All eyes were with the 
most intense anxiety directed toward those two women ; all 
conversation, jesting, and laughing were at once suspended. 
There was a deep pause, all breathing was smothered, all 
feared that the loud beating of their hearts might betray 
them and cause them to be suspected. 

The two princesses now approached each other— 
Princess Elizabeth would have bent a knee to the regent— 
Anna, with charming kindness, raising and kissing her, 
tenderly reproached her for coming so late. 

“T feared coming too early,” said Elizabeth, pressing the 
regent’s hand to her lips, “ for I doubted whether my fair 
cousin would find time to bestow a friendly word upon her 
poor relation, Princess Elizabeth ! ” 

*“ How could Elizabeth fear that, when she knows I love 
her like a sister?” tenderly asked the regent, and, taking 
the arm of the princess, she made with her a round 
through the rooms. 

Now again came life and movement in this lately so 
silent and anxiously expectant assemblage ; they now knew 
how they were to deport themselves: Princess Elizabeth 
was in the good graces of the regent, and therefore they 
could receive her polite greetings with the most reverential 
thankfulness; they could approach her and admire her 
beauty without incurring suspicion. The stereotyped smile 
had reappeared upon all faces, cheerful and lively conversa- 
tion was again resumed, and wherever the two arm-in-arm 


104 — THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


wandering princesses appeared, they were greeted with 
endless shouts of ecstasy. 

As we have said, it was a gay and very splendid festival. 
Only occasionally did something like a dark shadow pass 
through the rooms; only here and there did the chattering 
guests forget their wonted smiles; only occasionally did the 
mask of cheerfulness fall from many a face, discovering 
serious, anxious features, and suspicious, lurking glances. 
Every one felt that a catastrophe was impending, but, as no 
one could know its result in advance, all wished to keep as 
clear of it as possible, and seem perfectly unconscious and 
unaffected by these things. As they could not foresee which 
party would triumph, they found it advisable to join neither 
while awaiting coming events, after which they would hail 
as lords and masters those who might succeed in attaining 
to power. ; 

For the present, Anna Leopoldowna was the ruler, and, 
as they were her subjects, they must in humble submission 
pay homage to her; but Elizabeth might become empress, 
and therefore they must likewise pay homage to her, with a 
prudent avoidance of the too much, which might cause 
them to be suspected in case the regent should still con- 
tinue in power. 

These were the dangerous rocks between which this 
proud and elegant assemblage had to find their winding 
way, and they did it with smiles and outward ease, with 
open admiration of both princesses, before whom they 
bowed to the ground with slavish submission. 

But suddenly something like a panic-terror, like an 
unnatural awe, flew through all these splendid halls; the 


THE COURT BALL. 105 


smiles were arrested on all faces, the harmless jests on all 
lips; the pallor of beautiful women became visible through 
their paint, and generals staggered to and fro as if a thun- 
derbolt had fallen. As if touched by a magic wand, every 
one stood motionless like statues modelled in clay, no one 
daring to speak to his neighbor or make a sign to a friend. 
They would not see, they would not hear, they only wished 
to seem to be indifferent and unobserving. 

As we said, a panic-terror pervaded the halls, and like 
an evil-announcing night-spectre passed over the heads of 
the stiffened, lifeless crowd the dismal ramor—“ The regent 
and the princess are at variance; the regent is speaking to 
her with vehemence, and the princess weeps!” 

This certainly was a terrible announcement. But if the 


| regent was angry, it must be because she knew of the in- 


trigues and machinations of the princess, and knowing 
them she could counteract and nullify them; consequently 
the plans of the princess were upset, Anna Leopoldowna 
would remain ruler, and her son Ivan the Czar of all the 
Russias. 

Now the touch, the vicinity of Elizabeth’s friends be- 
came an evil-breathing pest, a death-bringing terror; they 
anxiously avoided the vicinity of Lestocq, they crowded 
back from Woronzow and Razumovsky, whom they had be- 
fore sought with every demonstration of friendliness; they 
even avoided looking at the French ambassador ; for, if the 
regent knew all, she must know of the intimate relations 
of Lestocq with the Marquis de la Chetardie, and he was 
therefore doomed like the other three. 

And moreover, this pernicious rumor had not lied; the 


106 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


two princesses were at this moment no longer so tender and 
friendly disposed as shortly before. 

They had long wandered through the halls, confidingly 
chatting and smiling, and Anna, leaning upon Hlizabeth’s 
arm—Anna who this day saw every thing coulewr de rose 
—felt a sort of disquiet that people should suspect her who 
was walking by her side with such innocent candor and 
unconstraint, seeming not to have the least presentiment of 
the dark cloud gathering over her head. 

“ She is inconsiderate,” thought the regent; “she allows 
herself to be carried away by her temperament, and behind 
her inclination and her weakness for handsome grena- 
diers and soldiers, her enemies seek to discover an insidi- 
ous and well-considered conspiracy; this is cruel and 
unjust! This good Elizabeth must be warned, that she 
may become more cautious, and give her numerous ene- 
mies no occasion for suspecting her. Poor innocent child, 
so gay and ingenuous, she plays with roses under which 
serpents lie concealed! It is my duty to warn her, and 
I will.” 

Wholly penetrated with this noble and generous resolu- 
tion, the regent drew her cousin Elizabeth into the little 
boudoir which lay at the end of the hall, offering a conven- 
ient resting-place for a confidential conversation. 

But at this moment Anna’s eyes fell upon the lace 
mantelet of the princess, and quite involuntarily came to 
her mind the warning words of Ostermann, who had said 
to her: “The French ambassador, by command of his gov- 
ernment, provides the princess not only with money, but 
also with the newest modes and most costly stuffs” This 





| 
, 
; 


THE COURT BALL. 107 


lace mantelet could surely only come from Paris; norhing 
similar to it had been seen in St. Petersburg; it certainly 
required especial sources and especial means for the pro- 
curement of such a rare and magnificent exemplar. Ss 

A cloud drew over the regent’s brow, and in a rather 
sharp and cutting tone she said: “One question, princess! 
How came you by this admirable lace veil, the like of which 
[ have not seen here in St. Petersburg?” 

While putting this question, the regent’s eyes were fixed 
with a piercing, interrogating expression upon the face of 
the princess: she wished to observe the slightest shrinking, 
the least movement of her features. 

But Elizabeth was prepared for the question; she had 
already considered her answer with the marquis and Les- 
tocq. Her features therefore betrayed not the least dis- 
turbance or disquiet; raising her bright and childlike eyes, 
she said, with an unconstrained smile: “ You wonder, do 
you not, how I came by this costly ornament? Ah, I have 
for the last eight days rejoiced in the expectation of sur- 
prising you to-day with the sight of it!” 

“ But you have not yet told me whence you have these 
costly laces?” asked the regent in a sharper tone. 

“It is a wager I have won of the good Marquis de la 
Chetardie,” said Elizabeth, without embarrassment, “and 
your highness must confess that this French ambassador 
has paid his wager with much taste.” 

The regent had constantly become more serious and 
gloomy. A dark, fatal suspicion for a moment overclouded 
her soul, and in her usually unsuspicious mind arose the 
questions: “ What if Ostermann was right, if Elizabeth is 


108 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


really conspiring, and the French ambassador is her confed- 
erate?” 

“And what, if one may ask, was the subject of the 
wager?” she asked, with the tone of an inquisitor. 

“Ah, this good marquis,” said the princess, laughing, 
“had never yet experienced the rigor of a Russian winter, 
and he would not believe that our Neva with its rushing 
streams and rapid current would in winter be changed into 
a very commodious highway. I wagered that I would con- 
vince him of the fact, and be the first to cross it on the ice; 
he would not believe me, and declared that I should lack 
the courage. Well, of course I did it, and won my wager!” 

The regent had not turned her eyes from the princess 
while she was thus speaking. This serene calmness, this 
unembarrassed childishness, completely disarmed her. The 
dark suspicion vanished from her mind; Anna breathed 
freer, and laid her hand upon her heart as if she would 
restrain its violent beating. The letter of Lynar slightly 
rustled under her hand. 

A ray of sunshine became visible in Anna’s face; she 
thought of her beloved; she felt his presence, and immedi- 
ately all the vapors of mistrust were scattered—Anna feared 
no more, she suspected no more, she again became cheerful 
and happy—for she thought of her distant lover, his affec- 
tionate words rested upon her bosom—how, therefore, could 
she feel anger ? 

She only now recollected that she had intended to warn 
Elizabeth. She therefore threw her arms around the neck 
of the princess, and, sitting with her upon the divan, said: 
“Do you know, Elizabeth, that you have many enemies at 





a 


THE COURT BALL, 109 


my court, and that they would excite my suspicions against 
you?” 

“Ah, I may well believe they would be glad to do so, 
but they cannot,” said Elizabeth, laughing; “ I am a fool- 
ish, trifling woman, who, unfortunately for them, do noth- 
ing to my enemies that can render me suspected, as, in real- 
ity, [do nothing at all. I am indolent, Anna, very indo- 
lent; you ought to have raised me better, my dear lady 
regent !” 

And with an amiable roguishness Elizabeth kissed the 
tips of Anna’s fingers. 

“No, no, be serious for once,” said Anna; “ laugh not, 
Elizabeth, but listen to me!” 

And she related to the listening princess how people 
came from all sides to warn her; that she was told of secret 
meetings which Lestocq, in Elizabeth’s name, held with the 
French ambassador, and that the object of these meetings 
was the removal of the regent and her son, and the eleva- 
tion of Elizabeth to the imperial throne. 

Elizabeth remained perfectly cheerful, perfectly unem- 
barrassed, and even laughingly exclaimed—“ What a silly 
story!” 

“I believe nothing of it,” said Anna, “but at last my 
ministers will compel me to imprison Lestocq and bring 
him to trial, in order to get the truth out of him.” 

“Ah, they will torture him, and yet he is innocent!” 
cried Elizabeth, bursting into tears. And, clasping the re- 
gent’s neck, she anxiously exclaimed: “Ah, Anna, dear 
Anna, save me from my enemies! Let them not steal away 
my friends apd ruin me! They would also torture me and 


110 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


send me to Siberia; Anna, my friend, my sovereign, save 
me! You alone can do it, for you know me, and know that 
Iam innocent! The idea that I should conspire against 
you, against you whom I love, and to whom, upon the sacred 
books of our religion, I have sworn eternal fidelity and de- 
votion! Anna, Anna, I swear to you by the soul of my 
father, I am innocent, as also is my friend. Lestocq has 
never passed the threshold of the French ambassador’s 
hotel! Oh, dear, dear Anna, have mercy on me, and do 
not permit them to torture me and wrench my poor mem- 
bers!” 

With a loud cry of anguish, with streaming tears, pale 
and trembling, Elizabeth sank down at the regent’s feet. 

It was this cry of anguish that rang through the hall, 
and spread everywhere astonishment and consternation. 
And this shrieking, and weeping, and trembling, was no 
mask, but truth. Elizabeth was frightened, she wept and 
trembled from fear, but she had sufficient presence of mind 
not to betray herself in words. It was fear even that gave 
her that presence of mind and enabled her to play her part 
in a manner so masterly that the regent was completely de- 
ceived. Taking the princess in her arms, she pressed her 
to her bosom, at the same time endeavoring to reassure and 
console her with tender and affectionate words, with reiter- 
ated promises of her protection and her love. 

But it was a long time before the trembling and weep- 
ing princess could be tranquillized—before she could be 
made to believe Anna’s asseverations that she had always 
loyed and never mistrusted her. 

“What most deeply saddens me,” said Elizabeth, with 


Se 


a 


PO DT PO aS lke 


THE COURT BALL, 111 


feeling, “is the idea that you, my Anna, could believe these 
calumnies, and suppose me capable of such black treason. 
Ah, I should be as bad as Judas Iscariot could I betray my 
noble and generous mistress.” 

Tears of emotion stood in Anna’s eyes. She impressed 
a tender kiss upon Elizabeth’s lips, and with her own hand 
wiped the tears. from the cheeks of the princess. 

“ Weep no more, Elizabeth,” she tenderly said—“ nay, I 
beg of you, weep no more. It is indeed all right and good 
between us, and no cloud shall disturb our love or our mu- 
tual confidence. Come, let us smile and be cheerful again, 
that this listening and curious court may know nothing of 
your tears. They would make a prodigious affair of it, and 
we will not give them occasion to say we have been at vari- 
ance.” 

“ No, they shall all see that I love, that I adore you,” 
said Elizabeth, covering Anna’s hand with kisses. 

“They shall see that we love each other,” said Anna, 
taking the arm of the princess. “Be of good cheer, my 
friend, and take my imperial word for it that I, whatever 
people may say of you, will believe no one but yourself; 
that I will truly inform you of all calumnies, and give 
you an opportunity to disarm your enemies and defend 
yourself. Now come, and let us make another tour through 
the halls.” 

Arm in arm the two princesses returned to the nearest 
hall. This was empty, no one daring to remain there lest 
they might incur the blame of having overheard and un- 
derstood some word of the princesses, and thus acquired a 
knowledge of their private conversation. People had there- 


112 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


fore withdrawn to the more distant rooms, where they still 
preserved a breathless silence. 

Suddenly the two princesses, arm in arm, again appeared 
in the halls, pleasantly conversing, and instantly the scene 
was again changed, as if by the stroke of a magic wand. 
The chilling silence melted into an agreeable smile, and all 
recovered their breaths and former joviality. 

All was again sunshine and pleasure, for the princesses 
were again there, and the princesses smiled—must they not 
laugh and be beside themselves with joy? 

Elizabeth’s tender glances sought her friend, the hand- 
some Alexis Razumovsky. Suddenly her brow was darkened 
and her cheeks paled, for she saw him, and saw that his 
eyes did not seek hers ! 

He stood leaning against a pillar, his eyes fixed upon a 
lady who had just then entered the hall, and whose wonder- 
ful beauty had everywhere called forth a murmur of aston- 
ishment and admiration. This lady was the Countess La- 
puschkin, the wife of the commissary-general of marine, 
from whose family came the first wife of Czar Peter the 
Great, the beautiful Eudoxia Lapuschkin, 

Eleonore Lapuschkin was more beautiful than Eudoxia. 
An infinite magic of youth and loveliness, of purity and ener- 
gy, was shed over her regular features. She had the traits of 
a Hebe, and the form of a Juno. When shesmiled and dis- 
played her dazzlingly white teeth, she was irresistibly charm- 
ing. When, ina serious mood, she raised her large dark 
eyes, full of nobleness and spirit, then might people fall at 
her feet with adoration. Countess Lapuschkin had often 
been compared and equalled to the Princess. Elizabeth, and 


Ss ee ee ee —— oe 


en ee 


a 


THE COURT BALL. 113 


yet nothing could be more dissimilar or incomparable than 
these two beauties. Elizabeth’s was wholly earthly, voluptu- 
ous, glowing with youth and love, but Eleonore’s was chaste 
and sublime, pure and maidenly. Elizabeth allured to love, 
Eleonore to adoration. 

The princess had long hated the young Countess Eleo- 
nore Lapuschkin, and considered her as a rival; but that 
this rival should now gain an interest in the heart of her 
favorite, that filled Elizabeth’s soul with anger and agita- 
tion, that caused her eyes to flash and her blood to boil. 

Staringly as Alexis Razumovsky’s eyes were fixed upon 
the countess, she, unconscious of this double observation, 
stood cheerful and unembarrassed in the circle of her ad- 
miring friends and adorers. 

Anna Leopoldowna followed the glance of the princess, 
and, observing the beautiful Lapuschkin, said, without 
thinking of Elizabeth’s very susceptible vanity : 

“ Leonore Lapuschkin is an admirably beautiful woman, 
is she not? I never saw a handsomer one. To look at her 
is like a morning dream; her appearance diffuses light and 
splendor. Do you not find it so, Elizabeth?” 

“ Oh, yes, I find it so,” said Elizabeth, with a constrained 
gmile. “She is the handsomest woman in your realm.” 

“ Yourself excepted, Elizabeth,” kindly subjoined the 
regent, 

“Qh, no, she is handsomer than I!” murmured Eliza- 
beth. 

Poor Leonore! In this moment hath the princess pro- 
nounced your sentence of condemnation, and in her heart 
subscribed the stern order for your execution. 


114 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


A longer view of this triumph of the countess became 
insufferable; alleging a sudden attack of illness, she im- 
mediately took leave of the regent, and ordered her car- 
riage. | 

Tears of anger and love stood in her eyes as Razumovsky 
approached to aid her in entering it. Hurling away his 
hand, she entered the carriage without assistance. — 

“And may I not accompany you in the carriage as 
usual?” asked Alexis, with tenderness in his tone. 

** No,” she curtly said, “ go back into the hall, and again 
admire the handsomest woman in the empire!” 

Then, jealousy getting the better of anger, she beck- 
oned to Alexis, who was about departing in sadness, and 
commanded him to enter the carriage without delay. 

As soon as the carriage door was closed, with an angry 
movement she seized both of Razumovsky’s hands. 

“ Look at me,” said she—“ look me directly in the eye, 
and then tell me, is Hleonore Lapuschkin handsomer 
than 1?” 





CHAPTER XIII. 


THE PENCIL-SKETCH. 


It was the day after the court ball. Princess Elizabeth 
was in her dressing-room, and occupied in enveloping her- 
self in a very charming and seductive négligé. She was to- 
day in very good humor, very happy and free from care, for 
Alexis Razumovsky had, with the most solemn asseverations, 

assured her of his truth and devotion, and Elizabeth had 





THE PENCIL-SKETCH. 115 


‘been soothed and reconciled by his glowing language. It 
was for him that she wished to appear especially attractive 
to-day, that Alexis, by the sight of her, might be made 
utterly to forget the Countess Eleonore Lapuschkin. In 
these coquettish efforts of her vanity she had utterly for- 
gotten all the plans and projects of her friends and ad- 
herents; she thought no more of becoming empress, but she 
would be the queen of beauty, and in that realm she would 
reign alone with an absolute sway. 

A servant announced Lestocq. 

A cloud of displeasure lowered on the brow of the prin- 
cess. Startled from her sweet dreams by this name, she 
now for the first time recollected the fatal conversation she 
had had on the previous evening with the regent. In her 
love and jealousy she had totally forgotten the occurrence, 
but now that she was reminded of it, she felt her head throb 
with anxiety and terror. 

Dismissing her attendants with an imperious nod, she 
hastened to meet the entering physician. 

“ Lestocq,” said she, “it is well you have come at this 
moment, else, perhaps, I might have forgotten to say to you 
that it is all over with the conjuration spun and woven by 
you and the French marquis. We must give it up, for the 
affair is more dangerous than you think it, and I may say 
that you have reason to be thankful to me for having, by 
my foresight and intrepidity, saved you from the torture, 
and a possible transportation to Siberia. Ah, it is very cold 
in Siberia, my dear Lestocq, and you will do well silently 
and discreetly to build a warm nest here, instead of invent- 
ing ambitious projects dangerous to all of us.” 


116 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


“¢ And whence do you foresee danger, princess?” asked 
Lestocq. 

“The regent knows all! She knows our plans and com, 
binations. In a word, she knows that we conspire, and that 
you are the principal agent in this conspiracy.” 

“Then I am lost!” sighed Lestocq, gliding down upon 
a chair. 

“No, not quite,” said Elizabeth, with a smile, “for I 
have saved you. Ah, I should never have believed that the 
playing of comedy was so easy, but I tell you I have played 
one in a masterly manner. Fear was my teacher; it taught 
me to appear so innocent, to implore so affectingly, that 
Anna herself was touched. Ah, and I wept whole streams 
of tears, I tell you. That quite disarmed the regent. But 
you must bear the blame if my eyes to-day are yet red with 
weeping, and not so brilliant as usual.” 

And Princess Elizabeth ran to the toilet-table to examine 
critically her face in the glass. 

“Yes, indeed,” she cried, with a sort of terror, “it is an 
I feared. My eyes are quite dull. Lestocq, you must give 
me a means, a quick and sure means, to restore their bright, 
ness.” 

Thus speaking, Elizabeth looked constantly in the glass, 
full of care and anxiety about her eyes. 

“T shall appear less beautiful to him to-day,’”’ she mus. 
mured ; “he will, in thought, compare me with Hleonore 
Lapuschkin, and find her handsomer thaa I. Lestocq, 
Lestocq!” she then called aloud, impatiently scamping with 
her little foot, “I tell you that you must immediately pre. 
scribe a remedy that will restore the brilliancy of my eyes.” 


THE PENCIL-SKETCH. 117 


“‘ Princess,” said Lestocq, with solemnity, “I beseech you 
for a moment to forget your incomparable beauty and the 
unequalled brilliancy of your eyes. Be not only a woman, 
but be, as you can, the great czar’s great daughter. Prin- 
cess, the question here is not only of the diminished bril- 
liancy of your eyes, but of a real danger with which you are 
threatened. Be merciful, be gracious, and relate to me 
the exact words of your yesterday’s conversation with the 
regent.” 

The princess looked up from her mirror, and turned her 
head toward Lestocgq. 

“ Ah, I forgot,” she carelessly said, “ you are not merely 
my physician, but also a revolutionist, and that is of much 
greater importance to you.” 

“The question is of your head, princess, and as a true 
physician I would help you to preserve it. Therefore, dear- 
est princess, I beseech you, repeat to me that conversation 
with the regent.” 

“Will you then immediately give me a recipe for my 
eyes?” 

“ Yes, I will.” 

“ Well, listen, then.” 

And the princess repeated, word for word, to the breath- . 
less Lestocq, her conversation with Anna Leopoldowna. 
Lestocq listened to her with most intense interest, taking a 
piece of paper from the table and mechanically writing 
some unmeaning lines upon it with an appearance of heed- 
lessness. Perhaps it was this mechanical occupation that 
enabled him to remain so calm and circumspect. During 
the narration of the princess his features again assumed 


118 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


their expression of firmness and determination; his eyes 
again flashed, and around his mouth played a saucy, scorn- 
ful smile, such as was usually seen there when, conscious of 
his superiority, he had formed a bold resolution. 

“This good regent has executed a stroxe of policy for 
which Ostermann will never forgive her,” said he, after the 
princess had finished her narration. “She should have kept 
silence and appeared unconstrained—then we should have 
been lost; but now it is she.” 

“No,” exclaimed the princess, with generous emotion, 
“the regent has chosen precisely the best means for disarm- 
ing us! She has manifested a noble confidence in me, she 
has discredited the whisperings of her minister and counsel- 
lors, and instead of destroying me, as she could have done, 
she has warned me with the kindness and affection of a 
sister. I shall never forget that, Lestocq; I shall ever be 
grateful for that! Henceforth the Regent or Empress Anna 
Leopoldowna shall have no truer or more obedient subject 
than I, the Princess Elizabeth !” 

“ By this you would not say, princess—” 

“By this I mean to say,” interposed Elizabeth, “ that 
this conspiracy is brought to a bloodless conclusion, and 
that, from this hour, there is but one woman in this great 
Russian realm who has any claim to the title of empress, 
and that woman is the Regent Anna Leopoldowna !” 

“You will therefore renounce your sacred and well- 
grounded claims to the imperial throne?” asked Lestocq, 
_ continuing his scribbling. 

“Yes, that will I,” responded Elizabeth. “I will no 
longer be plagued with your plans and machinations—I 


THE PENCIL-SKETCH. 119 


will have repose. In the interior of my palace I will be 
empress; there will I establish a realm, a realm of peace 
and enjoyable happiness; there will I erect the temple of 
love, and consecrate ‘myself as its priestess! No, speak no 
more of revolutions and conspiracies. I am not made to sit 
upon a throne as the feared and thundering goddess of cow- 
ardly slaves, causing millions to tremble at every word and 
glance! I will not be empress, not the bugbear of a quak- 
ing, kneeling people; I will be a woman, who has nothing 
to do with the business and drudgery of men; I will not be 
plagued with labor and care, but will enjoy and rejoice in 
my existence !” 

“For that you will be allowed no time!” said Lestocq, 
wréh solemnity. ‘When you give up your plans and re- 
nounce your rights, then, princess, it will be all over with 
the days of enjoyment and happiness. It will then no 
longer be permitted you to convert your palace into a tem- 
ple of pleasure, and thenceforth you will be known only 
as the priestess of misfortune and misery !” 

“You have again your fever-dreams,” said Elizabeth, 
smiling. “Come, I will awaken you! I have told you my 
story; it is now for you to give me a recipe for my in- 
flamed eyes.” 

“Here it is,” earnestly answered Lestocq, handing to 
the princess the paper upon which he had been scribbling. 

Elizabeth took it and at first regarded it with smiling 
curiosity; but her features gradually assumed a more seri- 
ous and even terrified expression, and the roses faded trom 
her cheeks. 

“You call this a recipe for eyes reddened with weep- 


120 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


ing,” said she, with a shudder, “and yet it presents two 
pictures which make my hair bristle with terror, and might 
cause one to weep himself blind !”’ 

“They represent our future!” said Lestocq, with de- 
cision. ‘ You see that man bound upon the wheel—that is 
myself! Now look at the second. This young woman 
who is wringing her hands, and whose head one of these 
nuns is shearing, while the other is endeavoring, in spite 
of her struggling resistance, to envelop her in the black 
veil ;—that is you, princess. For you the cloister, for me 
the wheel! ‘That will be our future, Princess Elizabeth, if 
you now hesitate in your forward march in the path upon 
which you have once entered.” 

“ And to persevere in this conspiracy is to give ourselves 
up to certain destruction, for doubt not they will be able to 
convict us. Among Griinstein’s enlisted friends there are 
drunkards enough who would betray you for a flask of 
brandy! Princess Elizabeth, would you be a nun or an 
empress? Choose between these two destinations. There 
is no middle course.” 

“Then I would be an empress!” said Elizabeth, with 
flashing eyes, trembling with anxiety and excitement, and 
still examining the two drawings. ‘“ Ah, you are an accom- 
plished artist, Lestocq, you have designed this picture with 
a horrible truth of resemblance. How I stand there! how 
I wring my hands, the pale lips opened for a cry of terror, 
and yet silenced by a view of those dreadful shears before 
whose deadly operations my hair falls to the earth, and 
that veil entombs me while yet living!” 

And casting away the drawings, the princess trod them 


es Ce 1 


THE PENCIL-SKETCH. 121 


under foot, declaring in a loud and imperious tone: 
“These drawings are false, Lestocq, and that will I prove 
to you—I, the Empress Elizabeth !” 

“ All hail, my empress!” cried Lestocq, throwing him- 
self at her feet and kissing the hem of her robe; “ blessings 
upon you, for you have now rescued me from the hands of 
the executioner! You have saved my life, in return for 
which I will this day place an imperial crown upon your 
heavenly brows.” * 

“This day?” asked Elizabeth, with a shudder. 

“Yes, it must be done this very night! We must im- 
prove the moment, for only the moment is ours. Every 
hour of delay but brings us nearer to our destruction. 
Yet one night of hesitation, and they will already have 
rendered our success impossible. Ah, the Regent Anna has 
sworn to believe only you, and never to doubt you, and yet 
she has ordered three battalions of the guards to march 
early in the morning to join the army in Viborg. Our 
friends and confidants are in these three battalions. Judge, 
then, how very much Anna Leopoldowna confides in you!” 

“ Ah, if it be really so,” said Elizabeth, “ then can I no 
longer have any regard for her. Anna will remove my 
friends from here, and that is a betrayal of the friendship 
she has sworn for me. I have therefore no further obliga- 
tions toward her! I am free to act as I think best. Le- 
stocq, I will be no nun, but an empress! You now have 
my word, and are at liberty to make all necessary arrange- 


* Levecque, vol. v., p. 227.—* Voyage en Sibérie, par FAbbé Chappe 
d’Auteroche,” vol. i., p. 184. 


G 


»- 


122 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


ments. If it must be done, let it be done quickly and 
unhesitatingly. I have yet to-day the courage to dare any 
enormity, therefore let us utilize this day!” 

“Expect me to-night at twelve o’clock!” said Lestocq, 
rising; “I will then be here to bring you the imperial 
crown.” 

This firm confidence made Hlizabeth tremble again. 
Until now all had seemed like a dream, a play of the imagi- 
nation; but when she read in Lestocq’s bold and resolved 
features that it was a reality, she shook with terror, and an 
anxious fear overpowered her soul. 

“ And if it miscarry?” said she, thoughtfully. 

“Tt will not and cannot miscarry!” responded Le- 
stocq. ‘The right is on your side, and God will watch 
over the daughter of the great czar.” | 

“ And then, when I am really empress,” said Elizabeth, 
thoughtfully, to herself, “what then? ‘There is no happi- 
ness in it! They will give me another title, they will place 
a crown upon my head, and bind me toathrone. I shall 
be no longer free to act according to my will, to live as I 
would. Thousands of spies will lurk around me. Thou- 
sands of eyes will follow my steps, thousands of ears will 
listen for my every word, in order to interpret and attach 
a secret meaning to it! They will call me an empress, but 
I shall be a slave bound with golden fetters, upon whose 
head sits a golden crown of thorns. And this toil and 
weariness! ‘These tiresome sittings of the ministers, this 
law-making and the signing of orders and commands! 
How horrible!—Lestocq,” suddenly cried the princess, 
aloud, “if I must always labor, and make laws, and sub- 


THE PENCIL-SKETCH. 198 


scribe my name, and command and govern, then I will be 
no empress, no, never!” 

“ You shall be empress only to enjoy life in its highest 
splendor. We, your servants and slaves, we will work and 
govern for you!” said Lestocq. 

“Swear that to me! Swear to me that I shall not be 
constrained to labor, swear that you will govern for me, 
that I may devote my time to the enjoyment of life! ” 

“T swear it to you by all that is most sacred to me.” 

“ Well, then, I will be your empress!” said Elizabeth, 
satisfied. 

At this moment a secret door opened and gave admission 
to Alexis Razumovsky. 

By his entrance Elizabeth was reminded of her inflamed 
eyes, and of the fair Countess Eleanore Lapuschkin. 

She gave Alexis a searching, scrutinizing glance, and it 
seemed to her that he appeared less tender and ardent than 
usual. 

“Oh,” she proudly said, motioning her favorite to ap- 
proach her and lightly kissing him upon the forehead, “ oh, 
I will yet compel you toadore me. When an imperial crown 
encircles my brow, then will you be obliged to confess that 
I am the fairest of women! Alexis, on this night shall I 
become an empress ! ” 

With a cry of joy Alexis sank to her feet. 

“ Hail to my adored empress!” he exclaimed, with en- 
thusiasm. “ Hail Elizabeth, the fairest of all women !” 

“ With the exception of the beautiful Countess Lapusch- 
kin!” said Elizabeth, with a bitter smile—* ah, when I am 
empress, I shall at least have the power to render that 


194 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRHSS. 


woman harmless, and to annihilate her!—You turn pale, 
Alexis,” she continued with more vehemence—“ your hand 
tremblesin mine! You must therefore love her very much, 
this exalted queen of godlike beauty? Ah,I shall know 
how to punish her for it!” 

“ Princess!” reproachfully exclaimed Alexis—“ Eliza- 
beth, you, my august and gentle empress, you will not sacri- 
fice an innocent woman to a momentary jealous vagary ! ” 

“ Ah, he ventures to intercede for her!” cried Eliza- 
beth, with a hoarse laugh, and, turning to Lestocq, she con- 
tinued, with anger-flashing eyes: “ Lestocq, I have yet a 
condition to make before consenting to become an em- 
press.” 

“Name your condition, princess, and if it be within the 
compass of human power it shall be fulfilled.” 

Casting an angry glance at Razumovsky, Elizabeth said, 
with a sinister smile: 

“Swear to me, by all you hold most sacred, to find some 
fault in this Countess Lapuschkin which shall give me the 
right to condemn her to death!” 

“ T swear it by all I hold most sacred,” solemnly respond- 
ed Lestocq. 

“ And you will do well in that!” exclaimed Alexis. 
«For when a crime rests upon her, and she, only with a 
word or look, offends against my fair and noble empress, 
she will deserve such condemnation.” 

“You will, then, defend her no longer?” asked the 
somewhat appeased princess, bending down to her kneeling 
lover. 

“ What is Countess Lapuschkin to me?” tenderly re- 


eS eS eo ee ee = ” 





THE PENCIL-SKETCH. 195 


sponded Alexis. “For me there is but one woman, one 
empress, and one beauty, and that is Elizabeth!” 

The princess smiled with satisfaction. ‘ Lestocq,” said 
she, “ this time I keep my word. I am ready to dare all, in 
order to place the imperial crown upon my head. I musi 
and will be empress, that I may have the power to reward 
you all, and to raise you, my Alexis, to me!” 

And drawing the handsome Alexis up to herself, she 
gave him her hand to kiss. 

“ T now go to make all necessary preparations,” said Le- 
stocq. “At midnight I will come for you. Be ready at that 
time, Elizabeth ! ” 

“TJ will then be ready!” said Princess Elizabeth, nod- 
ding a farewell to Lestocq. 

“At midnight!” she then thoughtfully continued. 
“ Well, we have twelve hours until then, which will suffice 
for the invention of a suitable toilet. Alexis, tell me what 
sort of dress I shall wear. What color best becomes me and 
in what shall I best please the soldiers? The toilet, my 
Alexis, is often decisive in such cases; an unsuitable cos- 
tume might cause me to displease the conspirators, and lead 
them to give up the enterprise. You must aid me, Alexis, 
in choosing a costume. Come, let us repair to the ward- 
robe, and call my women. I will try on all my dresses, one 
after the other; then you shall decide which is most becom- 
ing, and that will we choose.” 

The princess and her lover betook themselves to the 
wardrobe, and called her women to assist in selecting a 
suitable revolution-toilet. 


136 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


CHAPTER XIV. 


THE REVOLUTION. 


Nient had come. The lights in palaces and houses were 
gradually extinguished. St. Petersburg began to sleep, or 
at least to give itself the appearance of sleeping. The re- 
gent, Anna Leopoldowna, also, had already dismissed her 
household and withdrawn into her private apartments. 

It was a fine starlight night. Anna leaned upon the 
window-frame, thoughtfully and dreamily glancing up at 
the heavens. Her eyes gradually filled with tears, which 
slowly rolled down over her cheeks and fell upon her hands. 
She was startled by the falling of these warm, glowing drops. 
She had been unconscious of her weeping, as her thoughts 
had diverted her attention from her tears. She was think- 
ing of Lynar, of the distant, warmly-desired one, to whom 
she would gladly have devoted her whole existence, but to 
whom she could belong only through falsehood. She 
thought it would be nobler and greater to renounce him, 
that her love might be consecrated by her abnegation, while 
actually devoting her life to the duties enjoined by the 
laws and the Church. But these thoughts filled her bosom 
with a nameless sorrow, and it was involuntarily that she 
wept. 

“ No,” she murmured low, “I cannot make this sacri- 
fice; I cannot make an offering of my love to my virtue ; for 
this bugbear of a compulsory marriage I cannot give up a 
love which God Himself has inspired in my heart. Then 
let it be so! Let the world judge and the priests condemn 





THE REVOLUTION. 197 


me. I will not sacrifice my love to a prejudice. I know 
that this is sinful, but God will have compassion on the sin- 
ner who has no other happiness on earth than this only one 
—a love that controls her whole being. And if this sin 
must be punished, oh, my Maker, I pray you to pardon him, 
and let the punishment fall on me alone! ” 

Thus speaking, she raised her arms and directed her 
eyes toward the heavens in fervent prayer. Suddenly a 
brilliant light flashed through the air—a star had shot 
from its sphere, and, after a short course, had become ex- 
tinguished. 

“That bodes misfortune,” said Anna, with a shudder, 
her head sinking upon her breast. 

At this moment there was a loud knocking at her door, 
and Prince Ulrich, Anna’s husband, earnestly demanded ad- 
mission. 

Anna hastened to open, asking with surprise the cause 
of his unusual visit. 

“ Anna,” said the prince, hastily entering, “I come to 
warn you once more. Again has a warning letter been 
mysteriously conveyed to me. I have just found it upon 
my night-table. See for yourself. It implores us to be on 
our guard. It informs us that we are threatened with a 
frightful danger, that Elizabeth conspires, and that we are 
lost if we do not instantly take preventive measures.” 

Anna read the warning letter, and then smilingly gave 
it back to her husband. 

“ Always the same old song, the same croaking of the 
toad,” said she. “ Count Ostermann has taken it into his 
head that Elizabeth is conspiring, and doubtless all these 


128 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


warning letters come from him. Read them no more in 
future, my husband, and now let us retire to rest.” 

“And what if it were, nevertheless, true,” said the prince, 
pressingly—“ if we are really threatened with a great dan- 
ger? A word from you can turn it away. Let us, there- 
fore, be careful! Remember your son, Anna—his life is 
also threatened! Protect him, mother of an emperor! 
Allow me, the generalissimo of your forces, to take meas- 
ures of precaution! Let me establish patrols, and cause a 
regiment, for whose fidelity I can be answerable, to guard 
the entrances of the palace !” 

Anna smilingly shook her head. ‘“ No,” said she, “ noth- 
ing of all that shall be done! Such precautions manifest 
suspicion, and would wound the feelings of this good Eliza- 
beth. She is innocent, believe me. I yesterday sharply 
observed her, and she came out from the trial pure. It 
would be ignoble to distrust her now. Moreover, she has 
my princely word that I will always listen only to herself, 
and believe no one but her. In the morning I will go to 
her and show her this letter, that she may have an oppor- 
tunity to justify herself.” 

“You therefore consider her wholly innocent?” asked 
the-prince, with a sigh. 

“Yes, perfectly innocent. Her firm demeanor, her as- 
severations, her tears, have convinced me that it was unjust 
in us to believe the hateful rumors they had spread concern- 
ing her.* Let us therefore retire in peace and quiet. No 
danger threatens us from Elizabeth !” 


* Levecque. vol. v., p. 227, 





THE REVOLUTION. 129 


There was something convincing and tranquillizing in 
Anna’s immovable conviction ; the prince felt his inability 
to oppose her, and was ashamed of his feminine fears in the 
face of her masculine intrepidity. 

With a sigh he took his leave and returned to his own 
room. At the door he turned once again. 

“ Anna,” said he, with solemnity, “you have decided 
upon our destiny, and God grant that it may all eventuate 
happily! But should it be otherwise, should the monstrous 
and terrible break in upon you, then, at least, remember 
this hour, in which I warned you, and confess that I am 
free from all blame!” 

Without awaiting an answer, with a drooping head and 
deep sigh, the prince left the room. 

Anna looked after him with a compassionate smile. 

“Poor prince!” she murmured low, “ he is always so 
timid and trembling; that indicates unhappiness! He 
loves me, and I cannot force my heart to return the feel- 
ing. Poor prince, it must be very sad to love and be un- 
loved !” 

With a sigh she closed the door through which her hus- 
band had passed. 

“T will now sleep,” said she. “ Yes, sleep! Possibly 
Heaven may send me a pleasant dream, and I may see my 
Lynar! But no, I must first go to Ivan, to ascertain 
whether his slumber is tranquil.” 

With hasty steps she repaired to the adjacent chamber, 
which was that of the young emperor. 

There all was still. Before the door opening upon the 
corridor she heard the regular step of the soldier on guard. 


130 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


The waiters upon the emperor were slumbering upon mat- 
tresses around him. It was a picture of profound tran- 
quillity. 

With light steps Anna approached the cradle of her 
son, and, bending down over him, regarded him with ten- 
der maternal glances, while his still and peaceful slumber 
seemed to touch her heart with a sweet emotion. 

“‘Sleep, my dear child, my charming little emperor,” she 
murmured—“ sleep, and in your dreams may you play with 
angels as beautiful as yourself!” 

Bending again over the cradle, she breathed a light kiss 
upon the rosy lips of her child, and then noiselessly returned 
to her own chamber. 

“ And now,” said she, drawing a long breath, “ now will 
I, also, sleep and dream! Good-night, my beloved ; good- 
night, Lynar ! ” 

With a happy smile she reclined upon her couch, and 
soon slumbered. 

At this moment the clock in the next chamber struck 
the twelfth hour. Slowly and solemnly resounded the tones 
of the striking clocks that announced the midnight. 

At this same hour a lively movement commenced in the 
palace of the Princess Elizabeth. Lights were seen glan- 
cing from window to window, hurrying shadows were seen 
coming and going in the rooms, every thing there an- 
nounced an activity unusual for the hour, and certainly it 
was a signal good fortune for Elizabeth that Anna had for- 
bidden her husband’s sending a patrol through the streets. 
One single patrol passing the palace might have frustrated 
the whole conspiracy ! 





Oe ee ee ee 


— = —_— -— 





THE REVOLUTION. 181 


But the streets were perfectly quiet; nowhere was a 
sentinel or watchman to be seen. 

The slight creaking and whizzing of a sledge upon the 
crackling snow was now heard; it came nearer and nearer, 
and then there was a knocking at the palace gate. The 
porter opened, and two sledges drove into the court. 

The first, with a rich covering and magnificent orna- 
ments, was empty. But Lestocq was seen to spring out of 
the second, and hurriedly enter the palace. 

Elizabeth, splendidly dressed, sparkling with brilliants, 
was waiting in her small reception-room. No one but 
Alexis Razumovsky was with her. Neither of them spoke, 
and their visages plainly discovered that they were in a 
state of painfully uncomfortable suspense. | 

Elizabeth was pale and had a convulsive twitching 
about her mouth, her form trembled feverishly, and she 
was obliged to cling to Razumoysky, to prevent falling. 

“Did you hear the opening of the court-yard gate?” 
she breathed low. “ Lestocq is not yet here, and it is past 
midnight. Certainly he is arrested, all is discovered, and 
we are lost! I am fearfully anxious, Alexis; I already seem 
to feel the sword at my throat. Ah, hear you not steps in 
the corridor? They come this way. They are my pur- 
suers. They come to conduct me to the scaffold! Save 
me, Alexis, save me!” 

- And with a shrill cry of anguish the princess clung to 
the neck of her favorite. 

The door was now hastily opened, and upon the thresh- 
old appeared Lestocq and Woronzow. 

“ Princess Elizabeth!” exclaimed Lestocq, with solem- 


132 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


nity, “I have come for you. The throne awaits its em- 
press!” 

“Up, Princess Elizabeth,” said Alexis, “take courage, 
my fair empress, give us an example of spirit and resolu- 
tion!” 

The princess slowly raised her pale face from Razumoy- 
sky’s shoulder, and looking around with timid glances, 
faintly said: “1 suffer fearfully! This anguish will kill 
me! My destiny is so cruel, I am so tormented. Why 
must I be an empress?” 

“That you may be no nun,” laconically responded Le- 
stocq. 

* And to become the greatest and loftiest woman in the 
world!” said Woronzow. 

“To raise to your own elevation the man you love,” 
whispered Alexis. 

With a glance of tenderness, Elizabeth nodded to him. 

“Yes,” said she, “for your sake, my Alexis, I will be 
come an empress! Come, let us go. But where is Griin- 
stein?” 

“With his faithful followers he awaits us before the 
casern of his regiment. We go there first.” 

“Then let us go!” said Elizabeth, striding forward. 
But she stopped on seeing that Alexis followed with the 
other two. 

- “No,” said she, “ you must not go with us, Alexis. If I 
am to have courage to act and speak, I must know that you 
are not mingled in the strife—I must not have to tremble 
for your life! No, no, only when I know that you are con- 
cealed and in safety, can I have courage to struggle for an 








THE REVOLUTION. 133 


imperial crown. Promise me, therefore, Alexis, that you 
will quietly remain here until I send a messenger for you!” 

Razumovsky begged and implored in vain—in vain he 
knelt before her, and covered her hands with tears and 
kisses. 

Elizabeth remained inflexible, and, as Alexis yet per- 
sisted in his prayers, she earnestly and proudly said: 
“ Alexis Razumovsky, I command you to remain here. 
You will obey the first command of your empress!” 

“T will remain,” sighed Alexis, “and the world will 
point the finger of scorn at me, calling me a coward!” 

“ And I will compel the world to honor you as a 
king!” said Elizabeth, with tenderness, beckoning to Le- 
stocq and Woronzow to follow her from the room. 

Silently they hastened down the stairs—silently was 
Elizabeth handed into her sledge, while Lestocq and Wo- 
ronzow took their places in the second. 

“ Forward!” thundered Lestocq’s powerful voice, and 
the train rushed through the dark and deserted streets. 

St. Petersburg slept. No one appeared at the darkened 
windows of the silent palaces, no one boded that a new 
empress was passing through the streets,—an empress, who 
at this time had but two subjects in her train ! 

They had now reached the casern of the Peobrajensky 
regiment. There they halted. In the open door stands 
Grinstein with his thirty recruits. 

They silently approached the sledge of the princess and 
prostrated themselves before her. 

“ Hail to our empress!” whispered Griinstein low, and 
as low was it repeated by the soldiers. 


134 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


“ Let us enter the casern, call the soldiers, and awaken 
the officers; I myself will address them!” said Elizabeth, 
alighting from her sledge. She was now full of courage 
and resolution. In the face of danger now no longer to 
be avoided, she had suddenly steeled her heart; her father’s 
spirit was awakened in her. 

With a firm step she entered the casern ; the conspira- 
tors had already raised an alarm there, and the suddenly 
aroused soldiers rushed from all the corridors, with wonder 
and admiration staring at this noble and beautiful woman 
who, radiant in the splendor of her beauty, and sparkling 
with jewels, stood in their midst. 

‘“‘ Soldiers,” cried Elizabeth, with a firm voice, “I come 
to implore your support in my attempt to obtain justice in 
the realm of my father! Iam the daughter of the great 
Emperor Peter, the rightful heir to the throne of Russia, 
and I claim what is mine! I will no longer suffer a Ger- 
man princess to give laws to you, my beloved brethren and 
countrymen! Follow me, therefore, and let us drive away 
these foreign intruders who have usurped the throne of 


your lawful sovereign ?”’ 


“ All hail, Elizabeth, our empress!” cried the conspira- 


tors, prostrating themselves. . 

Surprised, benumbed, and overpowered, the others made 
no opposition. Miserable slaves, they were accustomed 
to obey whoever dared assume the command over them, 
—and they therefore submitted. Falling upon their knees, 
they took the oath of allegiance to the new empress! . 

Elizabeth was now the empress of three hundred soldiers. 

“Up, now, my friends, to the palace of the czar, where 


—————e eee SC 


THE REVOLUTION. 135 


these usurpers dwell and inflict upon you the shame of cali- 
ing a cradled infant your emperor. Come, and let us punish 
them for this insult, by thrusting them from their usurped 
power!” . 

“We will follow our empress in life and death!” cried 
the soldiers. 

They therefore started again, and once more hastened 
through the silent streets until, at length, they reached the 
imperial palace, where dwelt the Emperor Ivan with his 
parents. 

Elizabeth, with her confidential partisans in four sledges, 
had hastened on in advance of the others. With renewed 
courage they approached the principal entrance of the 
palace. 

The guard took to their arms, and the drummer was 
preparing to beat an alarm, when a single blow of Lestocq’s 
fist broke through the skin of the drum. 

The terrified drummer fell, and over his body passed the 
band of conspirators, Elizabeth at their head. 

No one ventured to oppose them; the slaves fell upon 
their knees in homage to her who announced herself as their 
mistress and empress! 

Thus meeting with universal submission and obedience, 
they approached the wing of the palace occupied by the 
Emperor Ivan and his mother the regent. Here is stationed 
an officer of the guard. He alone ventures defiance to the 
intruders. He meets them with his sword drawn, and 
swears to strike down the first person who attempts to enter 
the corridor. 

“Unhappy man, what is it you dare!” said Lestocq, 


136 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


boldly advancing. “You are guilty of high-treason. Fall 
upon your knees and implore pardon of your empress, 
Elizabeth !” 

The officer shrank back in terror. It was an empress 
who stood before him, and he had dared to defy her! 

Begging for forgiveness and mercy, he dropped his sword 
and fell upon his knees.* The Russian slave was awakened 
in him, and he bent before the one who had the power to 
command. 

Unobstructed, retained by no one, Elizabeth and her fol- 
lowers now strode through the corridor leading to the private 
apartments of the regent. Sentinels were placed at every 
door, with strict commands to strike down any one who 
should dare to oppose them. 

In this manner they reached the anteroom of the re- 
gent’s chamber. 

Elizabeth had not the courage to go any farther. She 
hesitatingly stopped. A deep shame and repentance came 
over her when she thought of the noble confidence Anna 
had shown, and which she was now on the point of repaying 
with the blackest treason. 

Lestocq, whose sharp, observing glance constantly rested 
upon her, divined her thoughts and the cause of her irreso- 
lution. He privately whispered some words to Grinstein, 
who, with thirty grenadiers, immediately approached the 
door of Anna’s sleeping-room. 

With a single push the door was forced, and with a wild 


* “Voyage en Sibérie, par l’Abbé Chappe d’Auteroche,” vol. i, 
p. 185. 


lo ae 


THE REVOLUTION. 137 


ery the soldiers rushed to the couch upon which Anna Leo- 
poldowna was reposing. 

With a cry of anguish Anna springs up from her slum- 
ber, and shudderingly stares at the soldiers by whom she is 
encompassed, who, with rough voices, command her to rise 
and follow them. They scarcely give her time to put on a 
robe, and encase her little feet in shoes. 

But Anna has become perfectly calm and self-possessed. 
She knows she is lost, and, too proud to weep or complain, 
she finds in herself courage to be tranquil. 

“T beg only to be allowed to speak to Elizabeth,” said 
she, aloud. “I will do all you command me. I will follow 
you wherever you wish, only let me first see your empress, 
Elizabeth.” | 

Elizabeth, leaning against the door-post, had heard these 
words; yielding to an involuntary impulse of her heart, she 
pushed open the door and appeared upon the threshold of 
Anna Leopoldowna’s chamber. 

On perceiving her, a faint smile passed over Anna’s 
features. 

“Ah, come you thus to me, Elizabeth?” she said, re- 
proachfully, with a proud glance at the princess. 

Elizabeth could not support that glance. She cast down 
her eyes, and again Anna Leopoldowna smiled. She was 
conquered, but before her, blushing with shame, stood her 
momentarily subdued conqueror. But Anna now remem- 
bered her son, and, folding her hands, she said, in an im- 
ploring tone: 

“Elizabeth, kill not my son! Have compassion upon 


him!” 
10 


138 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


Elizabeth turned away with a shudder, she felt her heart 
rent, she had not strength for an answer. 

Lestocq beckoned the soldiers, and commanded them to 
remove the traitress, Anna Leopoldowna. 

Thirty warriors took possession of the regent, who calmly 
and proudly submitted herself to them and suffered herself 
to be led away. 

In the corridor they encountered another troop of sol- 
diers, who were escorting the regent’s husband, Prince Ul- 
rich of Brunswick, and Anna’s favorite, Julia von Mengden. 

“Anna!” sorrowfully exclaimed the prince, “oh, had 
you but listened to my warning! Why did I not, in spite 
of your commands, what I ought to have done? I alone am 
to blame for this sad misfortune.” 

“Tt is no one’s fault but mine,” calmly responded Anna. 
“‘ Pardon me, my husband ; pardon me, Julia.” 

And so they descended to the sledges in waiting below. 
They placed the prince in one, and the regent, with Julia, 
in the other. 

“Ah,” said Julia, throwing her arms around Anna’s 
neck, “ we shall at least suffer together.” 

Anna reclined her head upon her friend’s shoulder. 

‘“‘ God is just and good,” said she. ‘ He punishes me for 
my criminal love, and mercifully spares the object of my 
affections. I thank God for my sufferings. Julia, should 
you one day be liberated and allowed to see him again, then 
bear to him my warmest greetings; then tell him that I 
shall love him eternally, and that my last sigh shall be a 
prayer for his happiness. I shall never see him again. 
Bear to him my blessing, Julia!” 


THE SLEEP OF INNOCENCE. 139 


Julia dissolyed in tears, and, clinging to her friend, she 
sobbed : “ No, no, they will not dare to kill you.” 

“Then they will condemn me to a life-long imprison- 
ment,” calmly responded Anna. 

“No, no, your head is sacred, and so is your freedom. 
They dare not attack either.” 

“Nothing is sacred in Russia,” laconically responded 
Anna. 

The sledges stopped at the palace of the Princess Eliza- 
beth. Hardly two hours had passed since Elizabeth, in 
those same sledges, had left her palace as a poor, trembling 
princess ; and now, as reigning empress, she sent them back 
with the dethroned regent. 

The latter entered the palace of the princess as a 
prisoner, while Elizabeth, as empress, took possession of the 
palace of the czars. 


CHAPTER XV. 


THE SLEEP OF INNOCENCE. 


Anna LEOPOLDOWNA had hardly left the room in 
which she had been surprised and captured, when ets, 
turned to Grinstein with a new order. 

“Now,” said he, in an undertone to him—* now hasten 
to seize the emperor. This little Ivan must be annihilated.” 

Elizabeth had overheard these words, and remembering 
Anna’s last prayer, she exclaimed with vehemence : 

** No, no, I say, he shall not be annihilated! Woe to’ 
him who injures a hair of his head! I will not be the mur- 


140 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


derer of an innocent child! Take him prisoner, get him 
in your power, but in him respect the child and the em- 
peror! Tear him not forcibly from his slumber, but pro. 
tect his sleep! Poor child, destined to suffer so early !” 

“No weakness now, princess,’ whispered Lestocq; 
“show yourself great and firm, else all is lost! Come away 
from here, that the sighi of this child may not yet more en- 
feeble your heart. Come, much more remains to be done.” 

And, reverently taking Elizabeth’s hand, he led her to 
the door. 

“ Now do your duty,” said he to Grinstein. “Seize 
voung Ivan.” 

“But remember my command, and spare him,” said 
Hlizabeth, slowly and hesitatingly leaving the chamber. 

“Now to Ivan!” Grinstein commanded his soldiers, 
and with them he hastened to the sleeping-room of the 
young emperor. 

There deep stillness and undisturbed peace yet prevailed. 
Only the waiting-women were awakened, and had hastily 
fled in search of concealment and safety. They had left 
the young emperor entirely alone, and he had not been 
awakened by the disturbance all around him. 

He lay quietly in his splendid cradle, which was placed 
upon a sort of estrade in the centre of the room, dimly 
lighted by a lamp suspended from the ceiling by golden 
chains. This slumbering, smiling, childish face, peeping 
forth from the green silk coverings of the pillows, resembled 
afresh, bursting rosebud. It wasasight that inspired respect 
even in those rough soldiers. 

Devontly staring, they at first remained at the door of 


THE SLEEP OF INNOCENCE, 141 


the room ; then slowly, and stepping on the points of their 
toes, they approached nearer and surrounded the cradle. 
But, remembering the words of their new empress, “ Spare 
his sleep,” no one dared to touch the child, or awaken him 
from his slumber. 

In close order the bearded warriors pressed around the 
cradle of the imperial child, leaning upon their halberds, 
watching for his awaking.* 

It was a rare and admirable picture. In the centre, 
upon its estrade, was the splendid cradle of the slumbering 
child, and all around, upon the steps of this child-throne, 
these soldiers with their wild and threatening faces, all eyes 
expectantly resting upon the smiling infantile brow. 

The door now opened, and, her face pallid with terror, 
Ivan’s nurse rushed into the room and to the cradle of her 
imperial nursling. The soldiers, with imperious glances, 
beckoned her to await in silence, like themselves, the awak- 
ing of the emperor. The poor woman spoke not, but her 
fast-flowing tears indicated the depth of her grief. 

Time passes. As if under enchantment, earnest, im- 
movable, silent, stand the soldiers. Behind the cradle, her 
eyes and arms raised imploringly toward heaven, stands the 
nurse, while the child continues to slumber, smiling in its 
sleep. 

At the expiration of an hour thus passed, the imperial 
infant moves, throws up its little rosy arms, opens its eyes 
—it is awake ! 

A cry of triumph escapes the lips of the soldiers—all 


* Levecque, vol. v., p. 227. 


142 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


arms were stretched forth to seize him who, an hour before, 
had been their lord and emperor. 

The child, frightened by the aspect of these rough sol- 
diers, bursts out into a cry of alarm, and stretches out its 
little arms toward its nurse. 

She takes him in her arms and weeps over him. The 
frightened child buries its little face in the bosom of his 
nurse, and the soldiers now convey them both to the wait- 
ing sledges. The dethroned emperor is quickly transported 
to the dethroned regent at Elizabeth’s palace, who, with hot 
tears, clasps her son to her heart. 


CHAPTER XVI. 
THE RECOMPENSING. 


MEANWHILE, Elizabeth had made herself absolute mis- 
tress of the imperial palace. Hastening to the throne-room, 
she had taken possession of the throne of her father, and 
administered the oath of allegiance to the guards surround- 
ing her. 

They lay upon their knees before her, these cowardly 
instruments of despotism; they bowed their heads in the 
dust, and these four or five thousand siaves, to which num- 
ber the followers of the empress already amounted, swore 
fealty to Elizabeth, ready to strangle the regent and the 
young emperor at her command, or to serve her the same if, 
peradventure, the regent should regain a momentary power.* 


* “«T”Abbé Chappe d’Auteroche,” vol. i., p. 188, 


‘THE RECOMPENSING. 143 


While the guards were doing homage in the palace, 
Grinstein and Woronzow, by Lestocq’s command, led their 
men to Miinnich’s and Ostermann’s, and both were im- 
prisoned ; with them, a great number of leading and sus- 
pected persons, who, perhaps, might have been disposed to 
draw the sword for Anna Leopoldowna. Lestocq had 
thought of every thing, had considered every thing; at the 
same time that he entered the regent’s palace with Eliza- 
beth, he sent to the printer the manifesto which proclaimed 
Elizabeth as empress. With the appearance of the sun in 
the horizon, Elizabeth was recognized as empress in the 
capital, and soon after throughout the whole empire. Who 
were they who recognized her? It was not the people, for 
in Russia there are no people—there are only masters and 
slaves. Elizabeth had become empress because fortune and 
Anna Leopoldowna’s generous confidence had favored her ; 
not the exigencies of the people, nor the tyranny of her 
predecessor had called her to the throne, but she had 
attained to it by the cunning and intrigues of some few 
confederates. She had become empress because Lestocq 
was tired of being only physician to a poor princess; be- 
cause Griinstein thought the position of under-officer was 
far too humble for him, and because Alexis Razumovsky, 
the former precentor in the imperial chapel, found it desir- 
able to add to his name the title of count or prince! 

When -St. Petersburg awoke it heard with astonish-— 
ment the news of a new revolution. From mouth to 
mouth flew this astounding announcement: “We have 
changed our rulers! We are no longer the servants of 
the Emperor Ivan, but of the Empress Elizabeth! A 


144 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


new dynasty has arisen, and we have a new oath of alle- 
giance to take!” : 

At first only a few ventured to spread this extraordinary 
intelligence, and these few were tremblingly and anxiously 
avoided ; it was dangerous to listen to them; people fled 
from them without answering. But as the rumors became 
constantly louder and more significant, as at length their 
truth could be no longer doubted, as it became certain that 
the regent and her son were dethroned and Elizabeth was 
established in power, all the doubting and anxious faces 
were, as by an electric spark, lighted up with joy; then 
nothing was heard but the cry of triumph and jubilation; 
then was Anna Leopoldowna loudly cursed by those who 
had blessed her on the preceding day; then was the new 
Empress Elizabeth loudly lauded by those who yesterday 
had smiled with contempt at her powerlessness. 

All again hastened to the imperial palace; the great and 
the noble again brought out their state coaches for the pur- 
pose of throwing themselves at the feet of the new possessor 
of power and swearing a new allegiance; again nothing 
was heard but the sound of universal rejoicing, nothing seen 
but faces lighted up by ecstasy and eyes glistening with 
tears of joy. And this was, in fourteen months, the third 
time that they had done homage to a new ruler who had as 
regularly dethroned his predecessor, and they had each time 
gone through the ceremony with the same evidences of joy, 
the same ecstasies, the same slavish humility, not com- 
miserating the defeated party, but professing love and de- 
votion to the victor! 

And as the day dawned on St. Petersburg, as it glo- 


ee 


THE RECOMPENSING. 145 


viously beamed upon the young empress, as she saw these 


thousands of worshipping slaves at her feet, Elizabeth’s 
heart swelled with a proud joy, and looking down upon the 
masses of humble and devoted subjects, whose mistress she 
was, she felt herself momentarily overcome by a deep and 
holy emotion. 

“T will be a mother to this people,” thought she; “I 
will love and spare them; I will govern them with mild- 
ness; they shall not curse, but adore me!” 

Yielding to this first generous impulse of her heart, 
Elizabeth rose from the throne, and with uplifted hands 
loudly and solemnly swore that she would be a mother to 
her subjects—a mother who, when compelled to punish, 
would never forget love and forbearance ! 

“No one, however great his’crime,” said she, with flash- 
ing eyes—“ no one shall be punished with death so long as 
I sit upon this throne! From this day the punishment of 
death is abolished in my realm! I will punish crime, but 
I will spare the life of the criminal! ” 

When Elizabeth had thus spoken, the large hall again 
resounded with the rejoicing shouts of the great and noble 
—men breathed freer and deeper, they raised tneir heads 
more proudly; for centuries the all-powerful word of the 
czars had swept over the heads of Russians like the sword 
of Damocles—it now seemed to be removed, and to promise 
to each one a longer life, a longer unendangered existence. 
For where was there a subject of the czars who might not 
at any time be convicted of a crime—where an innocent 
person who might not at any moment be condemned to 
death? A glance, a smile, an inconsiderate word, had oft- 


146 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


en sufficed to cause a head to fall! And now this eternally 
present danger seemed to be removed! What wonder, then, 
that they raised shouts of joy, that they embraced each 
other, that they loudly and solemnly called down the bless- 
ings of Heaven upon this noble and merciful empress ! 

During this time of general rejoicing among the great 
and noble of the realm in the brilliant imperial halls above, 
the palace was surrounded by dense masses of people look- 
ing up with curiosity at the bright windows, and listening 
with astonishment to the joyful shouts that reached their 
ears below. And when they learned the cause of the re- 
joicing above, they shrugged their shoulders and murmured 
low: “The empress will henceforth punish no ene with 
death! What is that to us? That the great shall no more 
be put to death by the empress, is no concern of ours, the 
serfs of the great! The empress is powerful, but our lords 
and masters have yet more power over us. They will still 
scourge us to death, and the empress cannot hinder them!” 

That a word of authority from the czarina had 
abolished the punishment of death, did not stir them up 
from their dull, expectant silence; but when a messenger 
from the empress came and announced that Elizabeth had 
ordered a flask of brandy to be given to each one of the 
crowd assembled below, that they might drink her health, 
then came life and movement to these stupid masses, then 
their dull faces were distorted into a friendly grin, then 
they screamed and howled with a brutish ecstasy, and they 
all rushed to the opened door to avail themselves of the 
promised benevolence of the empress and receive the divine 
liquor ! 





THE RECOMPENSING. 147 


For the great, the abolition of capital punishment—for 
the people, a flask of brandy—these were the first rays that 
announced the appearance of the newly-rising sun Elizabeth 
in the horizon of her realm ! 

No,—Elizabeth did yet more !—in this hour she remem- 
bered with a grateful heart the faithful friends who had as- 
sisted her to the throne; to reward these was her next and 
most sacred duty ! 

A nod from her called to her presence those thirty 
grenadiers of the Preobrajensky regiment whom Griinstein 
had won over, and the empress with a gracious smile gave 
tnem her hand to kiss. 

Then, rising from her throne, and glancing at the as- 
sembled magnates and princes, she said, in a clear and flat- 
tering tone: “It is service that ennobles, it is fidelity that 
lends fame and splendor. And service and fidelity have 
you rendered and shown to me, my faithful grenadiers! I 
will reward you as you deserve. From this hour you are 
free; nay, more, you are magnates of my realm; you be- 
long, with the best of right, to their circle, for, in virtue of 
my imperial power, I raise you to the nobility by creating 
you barons, all of you, my thirty faithful grenadiers, and 
you, Griinstein, the leader of this faithful band! Receive 
them into your ranks, my counts and barons, they are 
worthy of you!” 

Hesitating, not daring to mingle with those proud mag- 
nates, stood the new barons; but the princes and counts 
advanced to them with open arms, with exclamations of 
tenderness and assurances of friendship. The empress had 
spoken, the slayes must obey ; and these princes and counts, 


148 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


these generals and field-marshals, who yesterday would 
hardly have thrown away a contemptuous glance upon these 
grenadiers, now called them friends and brothers, and were 
most happy to admit them into their circle. 

Elizabeth gave a satisfied glance at these hearty greet- 
ings: she found it infinitely sweet and agreeable to make 
sO many men happy in so easy a manner, and with pleasure 
she recollected that she had yet to reward her coachmar 
who had guided her sledge in the great and decisive hour. 

She ordered him to be called. A considerable time 
elapsed, and all were looking expectantly toward the door, 
which finally opened, and, led by four lackeys, the coach- 
man stumbled into the hall. They had had some trouble 
in finding him, until at length he was discovered among 
the people in the court-yard, enjoying the brandy dis- 
tributed by order of the empress. From this crowd they 
had withdrawn him in spite of his resistance, in order te 
bring him to his sovereign. 

She received the staggering Petrovitch with a gracious 
smile, she praised the dauntlessness with which he had 
guided her sledge in that eventful night, and in gratitude 
for his good conduct she raised him, as she had the grena- 
‘diers, to the rank of a nobleman by naming him a baron of 
the Russian empire.* 

Petrovitch listened to her with a stupid laugh; and 
when the magnates crowded around him, offering their 
hands and assuring him of their friendship, he tremblingly 
and with effort stammered some unmeaning words, and 


* Mannstein, “ Mémoires, Historiques, Politiques, et Militaires sur 
la Russie;” Levecque, “ Histoire de Russie.” 


THE RECOMPENSING. 149 


falling upon his knees, he bowed his head in the dust be- 
fore these great and powerful magnates, humbly kissing the 
hems of their garments, not suspecting that he was their 
equal in rank. 

And constantly more brilliant and beautiful beamed the 
imperial. grace. None of Elizabeth’s faithful friends and 
servants were forgotten, for she possessed a virtue rare 
among princes—she was grateful. 

She named Lestocq her first physician, president of the 
medical college, and member of her privy council. She 
made Griinstein an imperial aide-de-camp, with the rank of 
brigadier-general; and Woronzow a count and her first 
chamberlain. 

Then, at last, she repeated the name of her friend Alexis 
Razumovsky. Her fair brow lighted up as with a reflected 
sunbeam on his approaching her throne, and, holding out to 
him both hands, she said aloud: “ Alexis Razumovsky, I 
have you most to thank for my success in dispossessing the 
usurpers who had robbed me of my father’s throne; for 
your wise counsels gave me courage and force: be then, 
henceforth, next to my throne, my chamberlain, Count 
Razumovsky !” 

Bending a knee before her, Alexis gratefully kissed her 
beloved hand, and the counts and gentlemen surrounded . 
him, loudly praising the great wisdom of the empress, 
whose divine penetration enabled her everywhere to dis- 
cover and reward true service! 

“Ah,” sighed Elizabeth, when, on the evening of this 
glorious day, she was again alone with her confidential 
friends, “ ah, my friends, I have now complied with your 


150 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


wishes and allowed you to make an empress of me! But 
forget not, Lestocq, that I have become empress only on 
condition that Iam not to be troubled with business and 
state affairs. This has been a day of great exertion and 
fatigue, and I hope you will henceforth leave me in repose: 
I have done what you wished, I am empress, and have re- 
warded you for your aid, but now I also demand my reward, 
and that is undisturbed peace! Once for all, in my private 
apartments no one is to speak of state affairs, here I will 
have repose; you can carry on the government through 
your bureaux and chancelleries ; I will have nothing to do 
with it! Here we will be gay and enjoy life. Come here, 
my Alexis,—come here and tell me if this imperial crown 
is becoming, and whether you found me fair in my ermine- 
trimmed purple mantle?” 

“‘ My lofty empress is always the fairest of women,” ten- 
derly responded Alexis. 

“Call me not empress,” said she, drawing him closer to 
her. “That brings again to mind all the hardships and 
wearinesses I have this day encountered.” 

“Only yet a moment, your majesty; let me remind you 
that you are now empress, and, as such, have duties to per- 
form!” pressingly exclaimed Lestocq. ‘You, have this 
day exercised the pleasantest right of your imperial power 
—the right of rewarding and making happy. But there 
remains another and not less important duty; your majesty 
must now think of punishing. The regent, and her hus- 
band and son, are prisoners; as, also, are Minnich, Oster- 
mann, Count Léwenwald, and Julia von Mengden. You 
must think of judging and punishing them.” 


THE RECOMPENSING, 151 


Elizabeth had paid no attention to him. She was whis- 
pering and laughing with Alexis, who had let down her 
long dark hair, and was now playfully twining it around her 
white neck. 

« Ah, you have not listened to me, your majesty,” impa- 
tiently cried Lestocq. ‘“ You must, however, for a few 
moments remember your new dignity, and direct what is to 
be done with the imprisoned traitors.” 

“Only see, Alexis, how this new lord privy counsel- 
lor teases me,” sighed the princess, and, turning to Les- 
tocq, she continued: “I think you should understand 
the laws better than I, and should know how traitors 
are punished.” 

“Tn all countries high-treason is punished with death,” 
said Lestocq, gloomily. ; 

“Well, let these traitors fare according to the common 
usage, and kill them,” responded Elizabeth, comfortably ex- 
tending herself upon the divan. 

“But your majesty has this day abolished the punish- 
ment of death.” 

“ Have I so? Ah, yes, I now remember. Well, as I 
have said it, I must keep my word.” 

“ And the regent, Prince Ulrich, the so-called Emperor 
Ivan, Counts Ostermann, Miinnich, Léwenwald, as well as 
Julia von Mengden, and the other prisoners, are all to re- 
main unpunished ?” 

“ Can they be punished in no other way than by death?” 
impatiently asked Elizabeth. “Have we not prisons and 
the knout? Have we not Siberia and the rack? Punish 
these traitors, then, as you think best. I give you full pow- 


152 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


ers, and, if it must be so, will even take the trouble to affix 
my signature to your sentence.” 

“ But we cannot scourge the regent or her son?” 

“‘No,” said Elizabeth, with vehemence, “these you 
must permit to go free and without hindrance to Germany ; 
your judicial powers will not extend to them. It shall not 
be said that Elizabeth has delivered up her aunt and cousin 
to torture for the purpose of securing her own advantage. 
Let them go hence free and unobstructed! I tell you this 
is my express, imperial will!” 

And Elizabeth, exhausted by so great an effort, leaned 
her head upon the shoulder of Alexis, mechanically playing 
with his locks. 

“And Minnich and Ostermann?” asked Lestocq. 

“ Mon Dieu ! will, then, this annoyance never cease ?” im- 
patiently exclaimed the empress. “What are Miinnich and 
Ostermann to me? I know them not; they have never in- 
jured and are wholly indifferent to me. Do with them as 
you and your colleagues think best, I shall not trouble my- 
self about it. Judge, condemn, punish them, it is all one 
to me—only their lives must be spared, as I have promised 
that no one shall be punished with death.” 

“T may, then, announce to the council that you will 
confirm their sentence ?” 

“Yes, yes, certainly,” cried Elizabeth, springing up. 
“Scourge, banish them, do what you please, but leave me 
in peace! Come, my Alexis, this good Lestocq is insuffer- 
able to-day; he will annoy us to death if we remain any 
longer here! Come, we will escape from him and his 
serious face! Oh, we have much more serious subjects of 


THE RECOMPENSING. 153 


conversation. To-morrow is my grand gala dinner, and we 
have my toilet to examine, to be certain that every thing is 
in the proper order. And then the ball toilet for the even- 
ing, which is far more important. I shall open the ball 
with a Polonnaise. You promised me, Alexis, to practise 
with me the new tour which the Marquis de la Chetardie 
describes as the latest Parisian mode. Come, let us essay 
this tour. For a new empress, at her first court ball, there 
is nothing more important than that she should perform 
her duty as leader of the dance with propriety and grace. 
Quick, therefore, to the work! Give me your hand—and 
now, Alexis, let us commence. Sing a melody to it, and 
then it will go better.” 

Alexis began to sing a Polonnaise, and, taking the hand 
of the empress, they commenced the practice of the new 
Polonnaise tour. ' 

“So, that is right,” said he, interrupting his singing, 
“that is very fine. Now let go my hand and turn proudly 
and majestically around. Beautifully done! Nowa half 
turn sideward. One, two, three—la, la, la, tra la!” 

“Yet one more question,” interposed Lestocq; “may 
the council of state sit in judgment upon Léwenwald and 
de Mengden, and will you confirm their decision ?” 

“One, two, three—tra, la, la!” sang Alexis, and the 
empress whirled and made her graceful turn, as he had 
taught her. 

Lestocq repeated his question to the empress. 

Elizabeth was precisely in the most difficult tour. 

“Yes, yes,” she breathlessly cried, “1 deliver them all 


over to you; scourge them, punish them, send them to Si- 
11 


154 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


beria—whatever you think best! Halt, Alexis, we must try 
this tour over again. But, indeed, I think I shall acquit 


myself very well in it.” 
“ Heavenly!” cried Alexis. “Once more, then! One, 


two, three—la, la, la, tra la!” 





CHAPTER XVII. 


PUNISHMENT. 


“ PuNnIsH them all, all!” had Elizabeth said, “but the 
regent, her husband, and her son—them you will permit to 
return to Germany!” | 

“We must accomplish the will of the empress, and 
therefore let them go!” 

“ We will obey her commands,” said Lestocq to Alexis 
Razumovsky. “ We must let them go free, but it would be 
dangerous to let them ever reach Germany. With their 
persons they would preserve their rights and their claims, 
and Elizabeth would always stand in fear of this regent and 
this young growing emperor, whose claims to the imperial 
Russian crown are incontestable. You alone, Razumovsky, 
can turn away this danger from the head of the empress, by 
convincing her of its reality, and inducing her to change 
her mind. Reflect that the safety of the empress is our 
own; reflect that, as we have risen with her, so shall we fall 
with her!” 

“Rely upon me,” said Alexis, with a confident smile; 
“this regent and her young Emperor Ivan shall never pass 


PUNISHMENT. - 455 


the Russian boundary! Let them now go, but send a 
strong guard with them, and travel by slow marches, that 
our couriers may be able to overtake them at a later period. 
That is all you have to do in the case.” 

And, humming a sentimental song, Alexis repaired to 
the apartments of the empress. 

Before the back door of the palace Elizabeth had occu- 
pied as princess, a travelling-sledge was waiting. Gayly 
sounded and clattered the bells on the six small horses at- 
tached to the sledge; gayly did the postilions blow their 
horns, and with enticing calls resounded the thundering 
fanfares through the cold winter air. 

To those for whom this sledge was destined, this call 
sounded like a greeting from heaven. It was to them the 
dove with the olive-branch, announcing to them the end of 
their torments; it was the messenger of peace, which gave 
them back their freedom, their lives, and perhaps even hap- 
piness. They were to return to Germany, their long-missed 
home; hastening through the Russian snow-fields, they 
would soon reach a softer climate, where they would be sur- 
rounded by milder manners and customs. What was it to 
Anna that she was to be deprived of earthly elevation and 
power—what cared she that she henceforth would no more 
have the pleasure of commanding others? She was free, 
free from the task of ruling slaves and humanizing barba- 
rians ; free from the constraint of greatness, and, finally free 
to live in conformity with her own inclinations, and per- 
haps, ah, perhaps, to found a happiness, the bare dreaming 
of which already caused her heart to tremble with unspeak- 


able ecstasy. 


156 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


Again and again the fanfares resounded without. 
Anna, weeping, tore herself from the arms of Julia. She 
had in vain implored the favor of taking Julia von Meng. 
den with her. Elizabeth had refused it, and, in this refusal, 
she had pronounced the sentence of the favorite—this was 
understood by both Julia and Anna. 

They held each other in a last embrace. Anna wept hot 
tears, but Julia remained calm, and even smiled. 

“ They may send me to Siberia, if they please, my heart 
will remain warm under the coldness of the Siberian cli- 
mate, and this great happiness of knowing that you and 
yours are saved they cannot rend from me; that will be for 
me a talisman against all misfortunes ! ” 

“ But I,” sadly responded Anna—* shall I not always be 
tortured by the reflection that it is I who have been the 
cause of your misfortunes? Are you not condemned be- 
cause you loved and were true tome? Ah, does love, then, 
deserve so hard a punishment ?” 

“The punishment passes, but love remains,” calmly re- 
sponded Julia. “ That will always be my consolation.” 

“ And mine also,” sighed Anna. 

“ You will not need it,” said Julia, withasmile. ‘ You, 
at least, will be happy. 

Anna sighed again, and her cheek paled. A dark and 
terrible image arose in her soul, and she shudderingly whis- 
pered : 

“ Ah, would that we were once beyond the Russian 
' boundary, for then, first, shall we be free.” 

“Then let us hasten our journey,” said Prince Ulrich; 
“once in the sledge, and every minute brings us nearer to 


PUNISHMENT. 157 


freedom and happiness. Only hear how the horns are call- 
ing us, Anna—they call us to Germany! Come, take your 
son, wrap him close in your furred mantle, and let us hasten 
away—away from here!” The prince laid little Ivan in 
the arms of his wife, and drew her away with him. 

“‘ Farewell, farewell, my Julia!” cried Anna, as she took 
her seat in the sledge. 

“ Farewell !”? was echoed as a low spirit-breath from the 
palace. 

_Shuddering, Anna pressed her child to her bosom, and 
cast an anxiously interrogating glance at her husband, who 
was sitting by her. 

“ Be calm, tranquillize yourself—it will all be well,” said 
the latter, with a smile. 

The postilion blew his horn—the horses started; gayly 
resounded the tones of the silver bells; with a light whiz- 
zing, away flew the sledge over the snow. It bore thence a 
dethroned emperor and his overthrown family ! 

Rapidly did this richly-laden sledge pass through the 
streets, but, following it, was a troop of armed, grim-look- 
ing soldiers, like unwholesome ravens following their cer- 
tain booty. 

At about the same hour, another armed troop passed 
through the streets of St. Petersburg. With drawn swords 
they surrounded two closely-covered sledges, the mysterious 
occupants of which no one was allowed to descry! The 
train made a halt at the same gate through which the over- 
thrown imperial family had just passed. The soldiers sur- 
rounded the sledges in close ranks; no one was allowed a 
glimpse at those who alighted from them. 


158 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


But these extra precautions of the soldiery were un- 
necessary, as nobody wished to see the unfortunate objects. 
Every one timidly glanced aside, that they might not, by 
looking at the poor creatures, bring themselves into suspi- 
cion of favoring men suffering under the displeasure of the 
government. But though they looked not at them, every 
one knew who they were; though they dared not speak to 
each other, every one tremblingly said to himself: “ There 
go Miinnich and Ostermann to their trials!” 

Miinnich and Ostermann, the faithful servants of Peter 
the Great—Miunnich, whom Prince Eugene called “ his be- 
loved pupil ;” Ostermann, of whom the dying Ozar Peter 
said he had never caught him in a fault; that he was the 
only honest statesman in Russia—Miinnich and Ostermann, 
those two great statesmen to whom Russia was chiefly in- 
debted for what civilization and cultivation she had ac- 
quired, were now accused of high-treason, and sent for trial 
before a commission commanded to find them guilty and to 
punish them. They were to be put out of the way because 
they were feared, and to be feared was held as a crime de- 
serving death ! 

Firm and courageous stood they before their judges. 
In this hour old Ostermann had shaken off his illness and 
thrown away the shield of his physical sufferings! He 
would not intrench himself behind his age and his sickness ; 
he would be a man, and boldly offer his unprotected breast — 
to the murderous weapons of his enemies ! 

For, that he was lost he knew! A single glance at his 
judges made him certain of it, and from this moment his 
features wore a calm and contemptuous smile, an unchange- 


ON ee | 


PUNISHMENT. 159 


able expression of scorn. With an ironic curiosity he fol- 
lowed his judges through the labyrinth of artfully contrived 
captious questions by which they hoped to entangle him; 
occasionally he gave himself, as it were for his own amuse- 
ment, the appearance of voluntarily being caught in their 
nets, until he finally by a side spring tore their whole web 
to pieces and laughingly derided his judges for not being 
able to convict him! 

He was accused of having, by his cabals alone, after the 
death of Catharine, effected the elevation to the throne of 
Anna, Duchess of Courland. And yet they very well knew 
that precisely at that time Ostermann had for weeks pre- 
tended to be suffering from illness, for the very purpose of 
avoiding any intermingling with state affairs. They ac- 
cused him of having suppressed the testament of Catharine, 
and yet that testament had been published in all the official 
journals of the time! 

Ostermann laughed loud at all of these childish accusa~ 
tions. . 

“Ah,” said he, “should I be sitting in your places, 
and you all, though innocent, should be standing accused 
before me, my word for it, I would so involve you in 
questions and answers that you would be compelled to 
confess your guilt! But you do not understand ques- 
tioning, and old Ostermann is a sly fox that does not 
allow himself to be easily caught! The best way will be 
for you to declare me guilty, though I am no criminal; 
for as your empress has commanded that I should be 
found guilty, it would certainly be in me a crime worthy 
of death not to be guilty.” 


160 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


“You dare to deride our empress!” cried one of the 
judges. . 

“Aha!” said Ostermann, laughing, “I have there 
thrown you a bait, and you, good judicial fishes, bite di- 
rectly! That is very well, you are now in a good way! 
Only go on, and I will help you to find me guilty, if it be 
only of simple high-treason. It will then be left to the 
mercy of your empress to declare me convicted of threefold 
high-treason! Go on, go on!” 

But Minnich showed himself less unruffied and sarcas- 
tic in the face of his judges. These never-ending questions, 
this ceaseless teasing about trifles, exhausted his patience at 
last. He wearied of continually turning aside these laugh- 
ably trivial accusations, of convincing his judges of his in- 
nocence, and making them ashamed of the nature of the 
proofs adduced. 

“Let it suffice,” said he, at length to his judges; “after 
hours of vain labor, you see that in this way you will never 
-attain your end. I will propose to you a better and safer 
course. Write down your questions, and append to each 
the answer you desire me to give; I will then sign’ the 
whole protocol and declare it correct.” * 

“Are you in earnest?” joyfully asked the judges. 

“Quite in earnest!” proudly answered Minnich. 

They were shameless enough to accept his offer; they 
troubled him with no more questions, but wrote in the pro- 
tocol such answers as would best suit the purpose of his 
judges. In these answers Miinnich declared himself guilty 


* Levecque, vol. v., p. 225. 


PUNISHMENT. 161 


of all the crimes laid to his charge, acknowledged himself 
to be a traitor, and deserving death. 

When they had finished their artistic labor, they handed 
to Miinnich the pen for his signature. 

He calmly took the pen, and, while affixing his signa- 
ture, said with a contemptuous smile: “ Was I not right? 
In this way it is rendered much easier for you to make of 
me a very respectable criminal, and I have only the trouble 
of writing my name! I thank you, gentlemen, for this in- 
dulgence.” 

Quick and decisive as were the hearings, now followed 
the sentences. Ostermann was condemned to be broken on 
the wheel, Miinnich to be quartered, and the two ministers, 
Léwenwald and Golopkin, to the axe! 

But Elizabeth had promised her people that no one 
should be punished with death; she must abide by that 
promise, and she did. She commuted the punishment of 
the condemned, as also of Julia von Mengden, into banish- 
ment to Siberia for life. What a grace! and even this 
grace was first communicated to Ostermann after his old 
limbs had been bound to the wheel and his executioners 
were on the point of crushing him! | 

But even in this extreme moment Count Ostermann’s 
calm heroism did not forsake him. 

“T was convinced that such would be the result!” he 
calmly said, quietly stretching his released limbs; “ this 
Empress Elizabeth has not the courage to break her oath 
by chopping off afew heads! It isa pity. On the wheel 
it might have become a little warm for me, but in Siberia 
it will be fearfully cold.” } 


162 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


From the windows of her palace Elizabeth had witnessed 
the preparations for this pretended execution; and as she 
knew that at last their punishment would be commuted, 
she was amused to see the solemn earnestness and the death- 
shudder of the condemned. It was a very entertaining hour 
that she and her friends passed at that window, and the 
comical face of old Ostermann, the proud gravity of Count 
Miinnich, the folded hands and heaven-directed glances of 
Golopkin and Léwenwald, had often made her laugh until 
the tears ran down her cheeks. 

“That was a magnificent comedy !” said she, retreating 
from the window when the condemned were released from 
their bands and raised into the vehicles that were imme- 
diately to start with them for Siberia. ‘“ Yes, it was, in- 
deed, very amusing! But tell me, Lestocq, where are they 
about to take old Count Ostermann ?” 

“ To the most northerly part of Siberia!” calmly replied 
Lestocq. 

“ Poor old man!” sighed Elizabeth ; “it must be very 
sad for him thus to pass his last years in suffering and dep- 
rivation.” 

Lestocq seemed not to have heard her remark, and 
laughingly continued : “ To Miinnich I have thought to ap- 
ply a jest of his own.” 

“ Ah, a jest!” cried Elizabeth, suddenly brightening up. 
“ Let us hear it. You know I love a jest, it is so amusing! 
Quick, therefore, let us hear it!” 

“Perhaps your majesty may remember Biron, Duke of 
Courland,” said Lestocq. ‘ Count Miinnich, as you know, 
overthrew him, and placed Anna Leopoldowna in the re- 


PUNISHMENT. 163 


gency. Biron has ever since lived at Pelym in Siberia, and, 
indeed, in a house of which Miinnich himself drew the plan, 
the rooms of which are so low that poor Biron, who is as 
tall as Miinnich, could never stand erect in them. The 
good Miinnich, he was very much devoted to the duke, and 
hence in pure friendship invented this means of reminding 
him, every hour in the day, of the architect of his house, 
his friend Miinnich !” 

“ Ah, you promised us a jest, and you are there repeat- 
ing an old and well-known story !” interposed the empress, 
yawning. 

“ Now comes the joke!” continued Lestocq. “ We have 
transferred Biron to another colony, and Herr Miinnich will 
occupy the poetical pleasure-house of his friend Biron at 
Pelym.” * 

“ Ah, that is delightful, in fact!” cried Elizabeth, clap- 
ping her little hands. “ How will Miinnich curse himself 
for cruelty which now comes home to himself! That is 
very witty in you, Herr Lestocq ; very laughable, is it not, 
Alexis? But, Alexis, you do not laugh at all; you look 
sad. What is the matter with you? Who has disobliged, 
who has wounded you ?” 

Alexis sighed. “You yourself!” he said, in a low 
tone. 

“1?” exclaimed the astonished empress. “I could not 
be so inhuman !” 

“No, only to wound me by refusing the first request I 
addressed to you!” 


* Levecque, vol. v., p. 235; Mannstein, Mémoires, vol. iii., p. 96. 


164 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


“‘ Name your request once more, I have forgotten it!” 
said Elizabeth, with vehemence. 

Alexis Razumovsky fell upon his knees before her, and, 
imploringly raising his hands, said : 

“ Klizabeth, my empress, have compassion for my care 
and anxiety on your account; leave me not to tremble for 
your safety! Grant me the happiness of seeing you un- 
threatened and free from danger in your greatness and 
splendor! Oh, Elizabeth, listen to the prayer of your faith- 
ful servant—let not this Anna Leopoldowna pass the bound- 
ary of your realm—let not your most deadly enemy escape ! ” 

“Oh, grant his prayer,” cried Lestocq, kneeling beside 
Alexis; “there is wisdom in his words; listen to him 
rather than to the too great generosity of your own heart! 
Let not your enemies escape, but seize them while they are 
yet in your power!” 

“ Elizabeth, greatest and fairest woman on earth,” im- 
plored Alexis, “ have compassion for my anxiety; I shall 
never laugh again, never be cheerful, if you allow these 
your most dangerous enemies to withdraw themselves from 
your power!” 

Elizabeth bent down to him with a smile of tenderness, 
and laid her left hand upon his locks, while with her right 
she gently raised his head to herself. 

“Love you me, then, so very much, my Alexis,” she 
asked, “that you suffer with anxiety for my safety? Ah, 
that makes me happy—that fills my whole heart with joy ! 
Only look at him, Lestocq; see how beautiful he is, and 
then say whether one can refuse the prayer of those heaven- 
ly eyes, those pleading lips?” 


PUNISHMENT. 165 


“You will, then, grant my prayer?” exultingly asked 
Alexis. 

*‘ Well, yes,” tenderly responded she, “since there is no 
other means of rendering you again cheerful and happy, I 
musi, indeed, consent to the fulfilment of your wishes, and 
not let my enemies quit the country if it be yet possible to 
retain them.” 

“They have proceeded by slow marches, and can hardly 
now have arrived in Riga, where they are to rest several 
days,” said Lestocq. ‘“ There will consequently be time for 
a courier yet to reach them with your counter-order.”’ 

* And he must be dispatched immediately !” said Alexis, 
pressing the hand of the empress to his lips. “In this 
hour will my kind and gracious empress sign the command 
for the arrest of Anna Leopoldowna, her husband, and her 
son!” 

“ Already another signature!” sighed Elizabeth. “ How 
you annoy me with this eternal signing and countersign- 
ing! Will it, then, never have an end? I already begin 
to hate my name, because of being compelled so often 
to write it under your musty old documents. Why did 
the emperor, my dear deceased father, give me so long a 
name ?—a shorter one would now relieve me of half my 
labor! ” 

But in spite of her lamentir gs, Elizabeth nevertheless, a 
quarter of an hour later, subscribed the order to arrest the 
regent, her husband, and son, and shut them up, prelimi- 
narily, in the citadel of Riga. 

“So now I hope you will again be happy and cheerful,” 
said she, throwing away the pen, and with a tender glance 


166 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


at Razumovsky. ‘Come, look at me—I have done all you 
wished ; let us now be gay and take our pleasure.” 

And while Elizabeth was jesting and laughing with 
Alexis, Lestocq, taking the newly-signed order, hurried 
away to dispatch his courier. 

At length they had reached the borders of this feared, 
pernicious Russian empire. They now needed no longer 
to tremble, no longer to glance anxiously around them, or 
listen with fear at the slightest sound. Only a short quar- 
ter of an hour and the boundary will be passed and liberty 
secured ! 

They had made a halt at a small public house near the 
boundary. The horses were to be changed there, and there 
the soldiers of the escort were to get their last taste of Rus- 
sian brandy before crossing the border. 

Anna and her husband have remained in the sledge. 
She holds her son in her arms, she presses him to her bo- 
som, full of exulting maternal joy: for he is now saved, 
this poor little emperor; Anna has now no longer to fear 
that her son will be torn from her—he is saved—he belongs 
to her; she can rejoice in his childish beauty, in the happy 
consciousness of safety. 

She has thrown back the curtains of the sledge. She 
felt no cold. With joy-beaming eyes she looked forward to 
that blessed land beyond the boundary! ‘There, where 
upon its tall staff the Russian flag floated high in the air, 
there freedom and happiness were to begin for her—there 
will she find again her youth and her maiden dreams, her 
cheerfulness and her pleasure—there is freedom—golden, 
heavenly freedom! 


PUNISHMENT. 167 


She is so happy at this moment that she loves all and 
every one. For the first time she feels a sort of tenderness 
for her husband, who, patiently bearing all in silence, had 
complained and wept only for her. Gently she reclined her 
head upon his shoulder, and with a cry of ecstasy the prince 
encircled her neck with his arms. 

“Qh, my husband,” she whispered, with overflowing 
eyes, “look there, over there! There is our future, there 
will we seek for happiness. Perhaps we may unitedly find 
it in the same path, for we have here a sweet bond to 
hold our hands together. Look at him, your son. Ulrich, 
you are the father of my child! Grant my heart only a 
little repose, and perhaps we may yet be happy with each 
other.” 

Prince Ulrich’s eyes were suffused with tears; he ex- 
perienced a moment of the purest happiness. He impressed 
a kiss upon the brow of his wife, and in a low tone called 
her by the tenderest names. 

The child awoke and smilingly looked up from Anna’s 
bosom to both of his parents. Anna lifted up the little 
Ivan. 

“Look there, my son,” said she—* there you will no 
longer be an emperor, but you will have the right to be a 
free and happy man. No crown awaits you there, but free- 
dom, worth more than all the crowns of the world.” 

Little Ivan exultingly stretched forth his tiny arms, as 
if he would draw down to his childish heart this future and 
this freedom so highly lauded by his mother. 

And, like the child, the parents looked smilingly out 
upon the broad expanse that stretched away before them. 


168 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


Look only forward, constantly forward, where the skies 
are clear, and dream of happiness! Look forward—no, 
turn not backward your glance, for the horizon darkens in 
your rear ; misfortune is closely following upon your track! 
You see it not, you look only forward, and still you smile. 

It draws nearer and nearer, this black cloud of evil. It 
is the ravens, the booty-scenting ravens who are following 
you ! 

Look forward, dream yourselves happy, and smile yet. 
What would it help you to look back? You cannot escape 
the calamity. 

Nearer and nearer, with a wild cry, rush on these ravens 
of misfortune; the air already bears detached sounds to 
Anna’s ears. 

She trembles. It is as if her boding soul scented the 
approaching evil. Pressing her child closer to her bosom, 
she gives her husband her hand. 

The horses are attached to the sledge, and the soldiers 
leave the public house. All is ready for the train to go on 
over the boundary. The postilions draw the rein! Nowa 
wild cry of “ Halt! halt!” 

The soldiers bear up, the postilions halt! 

“ Forward! forward!” shrieks Prince Ulrich, in mortal 
anguish. 

“ Halt! in the name of the empress 
who came rushing past upon a foaming steed, and he hand- 
ed to the commander of the escort an open writing, fur- 
nished with the imperial seal. 

The commander turned to the postilions. 

“To the right about, toward Riga!” ordered he, and 


!”? eried an officer 


al i tre 


THE PALACE OF THE EMPRESS. 169 


then, turning to the trembling princely pair, he said: “ In 
the name of the empress, you are my prisoners! I am direct- 
ed to conduct you to the citadel of Riga!” 

With a loud groan, Anna sinks into the arms of her 
husband. He consoles her with the most soothing and af- 
fectionate words; he has thought, sorrow, only for her—he 
feels not for himself, but only for her. 

For a moment Anna was overpowered by this unexpected 
horror; then she calmly rose erect, and pressed her son 
more closely to her bosom. 

“ We are all lost,” whispered she, “ prisoners forever ! 
Poor child—poor, unhappy husband !” 

“ Despair not,” said Prince Ulrich, “all may yet turn 
out well! Who knows how soon aid may reach us!” 

Anna lightly shook her head, and, thinking of the last 
words of her friend, she murmured low: “ Punishment 
passes, but love remains!” 


CHAPTER XVIII. 


THE PALACE OF THE EMPRESS. 


THE new empress, Elizabeth, had rewarded and pun- 
ished, and with that she thought she had finished her 
imperial labors and forever dismissed all her difficulties. 

“T have shaken off my imperial burdens,” said “she to 
her friends; “ let us now begin to enjoy the imperial pleas- 
ures. Ah! we shall lead a pleasant life in this splendid 


palace. My first law is this: No one shall speak to me of 
12 -- 


170 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


government business or state affairs. I will have nothing 
to do with such things, do you hear? For what purpose do 
I have my ministers and my council? Go you with such 
wearisome questions to my grand chancellor, T'scherkaskoy, 
and my minister, Bestuscheff; they shall govern forme. I 
can demand.-that of them, asI pay them for it. If you seek 
an office, if you have invented any thing for promoting the 
welfare of the country, if you have found any official abuse, 
or discovered any conspiracy, then go to Bestuscheff or to 
Woronzow, or also to Lestocq—spare me! But when you 
have a grace to demand, when you need money, when you 
desire a title or orders, then come to me, and I will satisfy 
your wishes. We have much money, many ribbons for or- 
ders, and as for titles, they are the cheapest and most conven- 
ient of all, as they cost absolutely nothing. Ah, a jest just 
now occurs tome. We will amuse ourselves a little to-day. 
We will have a title-auction. Call our courtiers, attend- 
ants, and servants. We shall havea gay time of it! We 
will have a game at dice. Bring the dice! I will at each 
throw announce the prize, and the dice shall then decide 
who is the winner ! ” 

They all gathered around her; the noble gentlemen of 
her body-guard, consisting of the grenadiers who had been 
raised to nobility and created officers at the commencement 
of her reign. They came noisily, with singing and laugh- 
ing, and saluting their empress, Elizabeth, with a thunder- 
ing viva. 

“ First of all, let us drink your health, sir captain!” said 
she, ordering wine to be brought, as well as brandy of the 
costly sort she had lately received as a present from the 


THE PALACE OF THE EMPRESS. 171 


greatest distiller of her capital, to which she herself was very 
partial. 

Loudly clinked their glasses, loudly was shouted a vive 
to the empress, which Elizabeth laughingly accepted by of- 
fering them her hands to kiss, and was delighted when they 
fell into ecstasies over the beauty and freshness of those 
hands. 

“Now, silence, gentlemen of the body-guard!” she 
cried. “I, your captain, command attention !” 

And, when silence was established, she continued : 
“We will have a game at dice, and titles and orders, gold 
and brandy, shall be the prizes for which you shall con- 
tend!” 

“ Ah, that is magnificent, that is a glorious game!” ex- 
claimed they all. 

“The first prize,” said Elizabeth, “is the position of 
privy councillor! Now take the dice, gentlemen!” 

They began to throw the dice, with laughter and shout- 
ing when they had thrown a high number—with lamenta- 
tions and stamping of the feet when it was a low one. 

In the meanwhile Elizabeth listlessly stretched herself 
upon a divan, and laughingly said to Alexis, who sat by 
her side: “ Oh, it is very pleasant to be an empress. Only 
see how happy they all are, and it is I alone who make them 
so; for out of these common soldiers I have created respect- 
able officers, and have converted serfs into barons and gen- 
tlemen! I thank you, Alexis, for impelling me to become 
an empress. It isa noble pleasure, and I should now be 
unwilling to return to that still and uneventful life that for- 
merly pleased me so well! I will so manage that the Em- 


172 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


press Elizabeth shall be as little troubled with labor and 
‘business as the princess, and the empress can doubtlessly 
procure for herself more pleasures than could the princess! 
Yes, certainly, I will now remain what I am, an empress by 
the grace of God!” 

A thundering shout and loud laughter here interrupted 
Elizabeth. The dice had decided!” The cook of the em- 
press had won, and become a councillor of state. 

Elizabeth laughed. “These dice are very witty,” said 
she, “for certainly the cook must be a privy councillor! I 
establish you in your dignity, Feodor, your title is recog- 
nized! Now fora new trial. Two thousand rubles is the 
‘prize, which I think of more value than a title!” 

There was a zealous pressing and shoving, a pushing 
and puffing; every one desired to be the first to get hold of 

the dice and struggle for the rich prize. There were many 
‘ungentle encounters, many a thrust in the ribs, many in- 
-vectives, many a gross, unseemly word; the empress saw all, 
heard all, laughed at all, and said to Alexis: “‘ These gen- 
‘tlemen are very practical! Two thousand rubles are esti- 
mated by them at a higher rate than the proudest title! I 
comprehend that a title is a nonsensical thing, of which no 
real use can be made, but what beautiful dresses can be 
‘bought with two thousand rubles! And that reminds me 
that you have not yet told me how you like this dress of 
mine! You take so little notice of my toilet, dearest, and 
yet it is only for you that I change my dress seven or eight 
times a day; I would, every hour, please you better and 
ibetter.” 
“Oh, no dressing is necessary for that,” tenderly re- 


THE PALACE OF THE EMPRESS. 173 


sponded Alexis; and stooping, he whispered some words 
in her ear which pleased her well, and made her laugh 
heartily. | 

Meanwhile the dicing continued. Blind luck scattered 
her gifts in the strangest manner; under-officers of the 
palace attained to high titles, and high officers with laugh- 
ing faces won pipes of brandy; barons of the body-guard 
made of men who but a few days before had been serfs, 
were seen approaching the mirrors with vain coxcombry to 
see the effect of orders just won by a cast of the dice, or 
with greedy avidity pocketing the rubles which fortune had 
thrown to them! 

It was a jovial and brilliant evening, and, in dismissing 
her friends, Elizabeth promised them many repetitions 
of it. 

And she kept her word. Frenzied merry-makings, 
pleasures and festivals of the roughest sorts were now the 
principal occupation of the new empress. The amusement 
of her court, the providing it with new festivals and pleas- 
ures, she considered as the first and most important of her 
imperial duties; and these alone she endeavored to fulfil. 

But who composed her court, and of what elements did 
it consist ? 

Elizabeth found the presence of her serious official 
councillors very tiresome, as they knew not how to make 
themselves agreeable; she found the surrounding of herself 
with the respectable ladies of her court to be very incom- 
modious, as there might some day be found among them 
one with a handsomer or more tasteful toilet than herself, 
or, indeed, one who might dare to be of a finer type of 


174 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


beauty than she! She therefore gladly avoided inviting the 
distinguished men of her court with their wives, or the 
higher class of state officials. It was far more convenient, 
far more agreeable, to surround herself with frivolous and 
handsome young men. They knew how to laugh and be 
cheerful, and she was thus sure that no other lady would be - 
there to dispute with her the palm of beauty. 

Elizabeth was not proud. She cared not whether noble 
blood flowed in the veins of those who were invited to her 
festivals. ‘The youth, beauty, and agreeable qualities which 
the empress found in any person, alone decided the ques- 
tion of their admittance to the court. 

Peasants, grooms, soldiers, servants, abandoned repro- 
bates, who by their beauty had won the favor of the em- 
press, were seen to attain to the highest stations.* 

On them were lavished the treasures of the state; they 
were adorned with orders and titles, and the magnates 
bowed to the ground before these potent favorites of the all- 
powerful empress, and the people shouted with transport 
when their beloved czarina, with her magnificent train of 
newly-created noblemen, made her appearance in the streets, 
and with gracious smiles returned the humble salutations 
of her kneeling slaves. That was a ruler in perfect accord- 
ance with Russian ideas; they sympathized with her incli- 
nations and pleasures—she was blood of their blood and 
flesh of their flesh! The strangers were at length banished, 
and a real Russian sat upon the throne of the czars! 

And yet Elizabeth trembled upon her imperial throne, 


* Schlosser’s “Geschichte des Achtzehnten Yahrhunderts.” 
Zweiter Band, s. 56, folg.; 211, folg. 


THE PALACE OF THE EMPRESS. 175 


surrounded by the band of magnates and nobles of whom 
she could truly say, “I am their creator—they are my 
work!” She trembled before those secret daggers, those 
lingering poisons, which always surround the imperial Rus- 
sian throne as its truest satellites, and lay low many a high- 
born head; she trembled before Anna Leopoldowna, who 
was sighing away her days in the closed citadel of Riga, and 
before Anna’s son, the infant Ivan, whom the Empress 
Anna in her testament had named as Emperor of all the 
Russias! She, indeed, would not work and trouble herself 
for her country and her people, this good empress by the 
grace of God, but yet she would be empress, that she might 
be enabled to enjoy life, and no cloud must obscure the 
heaven of her earthly glory! 

She therefore tore herself for some short hours from the 
pleasures in which she was usually immersed, from the 
arms of her lover, the object of her deepest interest; her 
own safety and her own peace were concerned. That wag 
well worth the effort to take the pen once more in hand, 
and affix the troublesomely long name of Elizabeth to some 
few official documents. 

She consequently signed the command to bring back 
Anna Leopoldowna and her husband from the citadel of 
Riga to the interior of Russia, and place them in strict con- 
finement in Raninburg. 

She also signed another order, and that was to rend the 
young Ivan from the arms of his mother, to take him to the 
castle of Schliisselburg, and there to hold him in strict im- 
prisonment, to grow up without teachers, or any kind of in- 
struction, and without the least occupation or amusement. 


176 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


“T well know,” said she, with a sigh, as she signed the 
document—“I well know that it would be better for this 
Ivan to be executed for high-treason than to remain in this 
condition, but I lack the courage for it. It is so horrible 
to kill a poor, innocent child!” 

* And in this way we attain our end more safely,” said 
Lestocq, with a smile. “ Your majesty has sworn to take 
the life of no one; very well, you keep your word as to 
physical life—we do not destroy the body but the spirit of 
this boy Ivan! We raise him as an idiot, which is the 
surest means of rendering him innoxious!” 

Elizabeth had signed the order, and her command was 
executed. They took from Anna Leopoldowna her last joy, 
her only consolation—they took away her son, whose smil- 
ing face had lighted her prison as with sunbeams, whose 
childishly stammered words had sounded to her as the voice 
of an angel from heaven. 

They took the poor weeping child to Schliisselburg, and 
his crushed and heart-broken parents first to Raninburg, 
and finally to the fortress Kolmogory, situated upon an is- 
land in the Dwina, near to that gulf which, on account of 
its never-melting ice, has obtained the name of the White 
Sea.* 

No one could rescue poor Anna Leopoldowna from that 
fortress—no one could release her son, the poor little Km- 
peror Ivan, from Schliisselburg! They were rendered per- 
fectly inoffensive; Elizabeth had not killed them, she had 
only buried them alive, this good Russian empress ! 


* Levecque, vol. v., p. 238. 


THE PALACE OF THE EMPRESS. 177 


And, nevertheless, she still trembled upon her throne, 
she still felt unsafe in her imperial magnificence! She yet. 
trembled on account of another pretender, the Duke Karl 
Peter Ulrich of Holstein, who, as the son of an elder daugh- 
ter of Peter the Great, had a more direct claim to the 
throne than Elizabeth herself. 

That no party might declare for him and invite him to 
Russia, her ministers advised the empress herself to send 
for him, and declare him her successor. Elizabeth followed 
this advice, and the young Duke Peter Ulrich of Holstein 
accepted her call. Declining the crown of Sweden, he pro- 
fessed the Greek religion in St. Petersburg, was clothed 
with the title of grand prince by Elizabeth, and declared 
her successor to the throne of the czars. 

Elizabeth could now undisturbedly enjoy her imperial 
splendor. The successor to the throne was assured, Anna. 
Leopoldowna languished in the fortress of Kolmogory, and 
in Schliisselburg the little Emperor Ivan was passing his. 
childish dream-life! Who was there now to contest her 
rights—who would dare an attempt to shake a throne which 
rested upon such safe pillars of public favor, and which so 
many new-made counts and barons protected with their 
broad shoulders and nervous arms? 

Elizabeth had no more need to govern, no more occa- 
sion totremble. She let sink the hand which, with a single 
stroke of the pen, could give laws to millions of men, which 
could give them interminable sorrow and endless torments ; 
she again took the heavy imperial crown from her head, re- 
placing it with wreaths of myrtles and ever-fragrant roses. 
She permitted Tscherkaskoy to govern, and Bestuscheff to 


178 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


sell to England the dearest interests of Russia. She per- 
mitted her ministers to govern with unrestricted power, and 
was rejoiced when no one came to trouble her about affairs 
of state or the interests of her people. 


CHAPTER XIX. 


ELEONORE LAPUSCHKIN. 


Two years had elapsed since Elizabeth’s accession to the 
throne ; for her, two years of pleasure and enjoyment, only 
troubled here and there with occasional small clouds of ill- 
humor—but those clouds overshadowed only her domestic 
peace. It was not the affairs of state, not the interests of 
her people, that troubled and saddened Elizabeth; she 
asked not how many of her subjects the war with Sweden 
had swept away; how many had fallen a sacrifice to hunger 
in the southern provinces of her realm. She had quite 
other cares and anxieties than those which concerned only 
her ministers, not herself. What have princes to do with 
the happiness of their people. 

Elizabeth was a consummate princess; she thought only 
of her own happiness, only of herself and her own sorrows. 
And it was a very severe, very incurable sorrow that visited 
her—a sorrow that often brought tears of anger into her 
eyes and curses upon her lips. Elizabeth was jealous—jeal- 
ous not of this or that woman, but of the whole sex. She 
glowingly desired to be the fairest of all women, and con- 
‘stantly trembled lest some one should come to rob her: of: 


ELEONORE LAPUSCHKIN, 179 


the prize of beauty. And were there not, in her own court, 
women who might venture to enter the lists with her? 
Was there not, before all, one woman whose aspect filled the 
heart of the empress with a thirst for vengeance, of whom 
she was compelled to say that she was younger, handsomer, 
and more attractive than herself—and this one, was it not 
Eleonore Lapuschkin ? 

For two long years had Elizabeth borne about with her 
this hatred and jealousy; for two long years had she in 
vain sought to discover some punishable fault in her rival ; 
for two long years had she in vain reminded Lestocq of his 
promise to find Eleonore Lapuschkin guilty of some crime. 
She had come out pure from all these persecuting pursuits, 
and even the eyes of the most zealous spy could find no blot 
upon her escutcheon. Like a royal lily she proudly bloomed 
with undisputed splendor in the midst of this court, whose 
petty cabals and intrigues could not soil her fair fame. 
Her presence spread around her asort of magic. The most 
audacious courtier, the most presumptuous cavalier, ap- 
proached her with only reverence; they ventured not in 
her presence to use such words and jests as but too well 
pleased the empress; there was something in Eleonore’s 
glance that commanded involuntary respect and awe; an 
elevation, a mildness, a soft feminine majesty was shed over 
her whole being that enchanted even those who were inim- 
ical to her. Elizabeth had perceived that, with her eyes 
sharpened by jealousy; her envy was yet more mighty 
than her vanity, and her envy told her Eleonore Lapuschkin 
is handsomer than the Empress Elizabeth; wherever Eleo- 
nor appears, there all hearts fly to meet her, all glances in- 


180 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


cline to her; every one feels a sort of ecstasy of adoration 
whom she greets with a word or a smile, for that word or 
that smile sanctifies him as it were, and enrolls him among 
the noblest and best. 

And even Alexis had been unable to withstand this 
magic! Oh, Elizabeth narrowly watched him; she had 
analyzed his every word and every glance; she had seen 
how he always pressed near her, how he blushed with joy 
when she remarked his presence and returned his saluta- 
tion! Yea, she, and perhaps only she, had seen Alexis 
covertly possess himself of the glove which Eleonore had 
lost the previous evening at the grand court ball, had seen 
him press that glove to his lips and afterward conceal it in 
his bosom. 

As Elizabeth thought of these things her eyes filled with 
tears, and her whole form shook with rage. She felt unable 
to be angry with or to punish him, but she was resolved 
that Eleonore Lapuschkin should feel the whole weight of 
her vengeance. | 

“ Oh,” said she, while pacing her boudoir in a state of 
violent excitement, “I shall know how to punish this pre- 
sumptuous woman! She ventures to defy me, but I will 
humble her! Ha, does she not give herself the appearance 
of not remarking that I constantly have for her a clouded 
brow and an unfriendly greeting? How! will she not take 
the pains to see that her empress looks upon her with dis- 
favor? But she shall see and feel that I hate, that I abhor 
her. Oh, what a powerless creature is yet an empress! I 
hate this woman, and she has the impudence to think I 
cannot punish her unless she is guilty.” | 


ELEONORE LAPUSCHKIN. 181 


And weeping aloud, Elizabeth threw herself upon the 
divan. A low knock at the door recalled her attention 
from her angry grief. Rising, she bade the person at the 
door to enter. 

It was Lestocq, the privy councillor and president— 
Lestocq, the confidant of the empress, who came with a 
joyful face and cheerful smile. 

Elizabeth felt annoyed by this cheerfulness of her 
physician. With an angry frown she turned her back 
upon him. 

“ Why were you not at the court ball last evening?” she 
then roughly said. 

“‘T was there,” answered Lestocq. 

“ Ah, that is not true,” cried the empress with vehe- 
mence, glad at least to have some one on whom she could 
discharge her anger. “It is false, 1 say; no one saw you 
there! Ah, you dare, then, to impose a falsehood upon your 
empress? You would—” 

“T was at the court ball,” interposed Lestocq; “I saw 
and noted all that occurred there. I saw that my empress 
beamed in all the splendor of beauty, and yet with her ami- 
able modesty she thought Eleonore Lapuschkin handsomer 
than herself. I read in Elizabeth’s noble brow that she was 
pained by this, and that she promised to punish the pre- 
sumption of the insolent countess.” 

“And to what end have you read all that,” responded 
Elizabeth, with vehemence, “to what end, since you are so 
sluggish a servant that you make no effort to fulfil any wish 
of your mistress? ‘To what end, since you are so disregard- 
ful of your word as not to hold even your oath sacred?” 


182 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


“T was at the ball precisely because I remembered my 
oath,” said Lestocq, “ because I was intent upon redeeming 
my word and delivering over to you this Countess Lapusch- 
kin as a criminal! But you could not recognize me, as I 
was in the disguise of a lackey of the Countess Eleonore 
Lapuschkin.” | 

Elizabeth springing up from her seat, stared with 
breathless curiosity into Lestocq’s face. 

“ Well?” she anxiously asked, as Lestocq remained 
silent. ‘Speak on; then what further?” 

“ Tilustrious empress,”’ said Lestocq, “I am now here to 
redeem my word. This Countess Eleonore Lapuschkin is a 
criminal ! ” 

“ Ah, thank God!” cried Elizabeth, breathing more freely. 

‘“‘ By various intrigues and stratagems, by bribery of he1 
servants, I have finally succeeded in spying out her secrets, 
and last evening, when as her lackey I conducted her from 
the ball and afterward waited at table at an entertainment. 
given by her husband to some confidential friends, last 
evening her whole plan was made clear to me. It is a great 
and very important conspiracy that I have detected! This 
Countess Eleonore Lapuschkin is guilty of high-treason ; 
she conspires against her legitimate empress!” 

“ Ah, she conspires!” exclaimed Elizabeth, with a fierce 
laugh. ‘For whom, then, does she conspire ? ” 

“For one whose name I dare not utter without the ex- 
press permission of my empress!” 

Speak, speak quickly!” 

Lestocq bent down close to the ear of the empress. ‘She 
conspires for the Schliisselburg prisoner Ivan!” said he. 


ELEONORE LAPUSCHKIN, 183 


“T shall therefore be able to punish her,” said Elizabeth, 
smilingly. “I shall no longer be obliged to suffer this 
hated woman within the walls of my capital!” 

“‘ Siberia has room for her and her fellow-conspirators!” 
replied Lestocq. “For this fair countess is not alone 
guilty, although she is the soul of the conjuration, as it is 
love that animates her. Eleonore Lapuschkin conspires 
for her lover!” 

“Oh, this adored saint has, then, a lover!” uistatuiin 
the empress. ‘And I believed her spotless as a lily, so pure 
that I felt abashed in her presence!” 

“ You have banished her lover to Siberia, the lover of 
Eleonore, Count Léwenwald. You may believe that that 
has caused her a mortal grief.” 

“ Ah,” joyfully exclaimed Elizabeth, “I have, therefore, 
unknowingly caused her tears to flow! But I will yet do 
it with a perfect consciousness! Relate to me in detail 
exactly what you know of this conspiracy !” 

And Lestocq related that Eleonore Lapuschkin, in con- 

‘nection with her husband, the chamberlain Lilienfeld, and 
Madame Bestuscheff, who was the sister of the condemned 
Golopkin, had entered into a conspiracy for the overthrow 
of Elizabeth and the placing of Ivan upon the throne, and 
thus releasing the prisoners banished to Siberia. 

“ Oh, they were very gay at the yesterday’s dinner of the 
conspirators,” said Lestocq. “The husband of Countess 
Lapuschkin even ventured to drink the health of the Em- 
peror Ivan, and to his speedy liberation ! ” * 


* Levecque, vol. v., p. 241. 


184 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRKSS. 


“But that is high-treason!” exclaimed Elizabeth. 
“Ah, I had cause to tremble and eternally to stand in fear 
of my murderers! I already see them lurking around me, 
encircling me on all sides, to destroy me! Lestocq, save 
me from my murderers!” 

And with a cry of anguish the empress clung convul- 
sively to the arm of her physician. 

“The incautiousness of these conspirators has already 
saved you, empress,” said Lestocq. ‘They have delivered 
themselves into our hand, they have made us masters of the 
situation. What would you more? You will punish the 
traitors; that is all!” 

“And I cannot kill them!” shrieked Elizabeth, with 
closed fists. ‘‘ I have tied my own hands in my unwise gen- 
erosity! Ah, they call me an empress, and yet I cannot 
destroy those I hate!” 

“And who denies you that right?” asked Lestocq. 
* Destroy their bodies, but kill them not! Wherefore have 
we the knout, if it cannot flay the back of a beauty?” 

‘“‘ Yes, wherefore have we the knout ?” exclaimed Eliza- 
beth, with a joyous laugh. “ Ah, Lestocq, you are an ex- 
quisite man, you always give good advice. Ah, this beauti- 
ful Countess Eleonore shall be made acquainted with the 
knout !” 

“You have a double right for it,” said Lestocq, “ for 
she has dared to speak of your majesty in unseemly lan- 
guage!” 

** Has she done that?” cried Elizabeth. “ Ah, I almost 
love her for it, as that gives me the right to chastise her. 
Lestoceq, what punishment is prescribed for a subject who 


ELEONORE LAPUSCHKIN. 185 


dares revile his empress? You must know it, you are fa- 
miliar with. the laws! Therefore tell me quickly, what 
punishment? ” 

“Tt is written,” said Lestocq, after a moment’s reflec- 
tion, “that any one who dares so misuse his tongue as to 
revile the sublime majesty of his emperor or empress with 
irreverent language, such criminal shall have the instru- 
ment of his crime, his tongue, torn out by the roots!” 

«“ And this time I will exercise no mercy!” triumphant- 
ly exclaimed Elizabeth. 

She kept her word—she exercised no mercy! Count 
Lapuschkin, with his fair wife, the wife of Bestuscheff, the 
Chamberlain Lilienfeld, and some others, were accused of 
high-treason and brought before the tribunal. 

It was not difficult to convict the countess of the crime 
charged; incautiously enough had she often expressed her 
attachment to the cause of the imprisoned Emperor Ivan, 
and her contempt for the Empress Elizabeth. And in 
what country is it not a crime to speak disrespectfully of 
the prince, though he be a criminal and one of the lowest 
of men? 

She was therefore declared guilty ; she was sentenced to 
be scourged with the knout, to have her tongue torn out, 
and to be transported to Siberia! 

Elizabeth did not pardon her. She was a princess— 
how, then, could she pardon one who had dared to revile 
her? Every crime is easier to pardon than that of high- 
treason; for every other there may be extenuating circum- 
stances—for that, never; it is a capital crime which a prince 


never pardons; how, then, could Elizabeth have done so?— 
13 


186 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


Elizabeth, Empress by the grace of God, as all are princes 
and kings by the grace of God! 

The people were running to and fro in the wildest con- 
fusion in the streets of St. Petersburg; they cried and 
shouted wivas to their empress who to-day accorded to 
them the splendid spectacle of the knouting of some re- 
spectable ladies and gentlemen! Ah, that was a very 
gracious and condescending empress to provide once more 
a delightful spectacle for her serfs at the expense of the 
nobility! That was an empress after their own hearts— 
real Russian blood ! 

Shrieking and shouting they rushed to the place of exe- 
cution, pressing against the barriers that separated the cen- 
tral point from the spectators. There stood the bearded 
assistants of the executioner, there lay the knouts and other 
instruments, and with eager glances the people devoured 
all: they found all these preparations admirable, they re- 
joiced with unrestrained delight in the prospect of seeing 
the handsomest woman in the realm flayed with the knout. 
And not the common people alone, the nodlesse must also 
be present; the great magnates of the court must also 
come, if they would avoid exciting a suspicion that they 
commiserated the condemned and revolted at their punish- 
ment. They all came, these slavish magnates, perhaps with 
tears in their hearts, but with smiles upon their lips; per- 
haps murmuring secret curses, but aloud applauding the 
just sentence of the empress. 

Now the closed carriages of the condemned were. seen 
approaching in a long, lingering train; the train halted, the 
doors were opened, and in the centre of the place of execu- 


ELEONORE LAPUSCHKIN. 187 


tion appeared Eleonore Lapuschkin, radiant with the bril- 
liancy of the purest beauty, her noble form enveloped in a 
full, draping robe, which lent to her loveliness an additional 
charm. She looked around with an astonished and inter- 
rogating glance, as if awaking from a confused dream. 
Young, amiable, the first and most celebrated lady of the 
court, of which she was the most brilliant ornament, she 
now sees herself, instead of the admirers who humbly paid 
their court to her, surrounded by these rough executioners, 
who regard her with bold and insolent glances, eagerly 
stretching forth their hands for their prey. One of them, 
approaching her, ventures to rend from her bosom the ker- 
chief that covers it. Eleonore, shuddering, shrinks back, her 
cheeks are pale as marble, a stream of tears gushes from her 
eyes. In vain she implores, in vain her lamentations, in vain 
her trembling innocence, in vain her efforts to cover herself 
anew. Her clothes are torn off, and in a few moments she 
stands there naked to the girdle, with all the upper portion 
of her person exposed to the eager glances of the masses, 
who in silence stare at this specimen of the purest feminine 
beauty. 

The proud lily is broken, shattered ; she bows her head, 
the storm has crushed her. Incapable of resistance, she is 
seized by one of the executioners, who, by a sudden move- 
ment, throws her upon her back. Another then approaches 
and places her in the most convenient position for receiving 
the punishment. Soon, with rough brutality, he lays his 
broad hand upon her head, and places it so that it may not 
be hit by the knout, and then, like a butcher who is about 
to throttle a lamb, he caresses that snow-white back, as if 


188 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


taking pleasure in the contemplation of the wonderful fair- 
ness of his victim. 

Now is she in the right position; he steps back, and 
raising the knout, brings it down upon Eleonore’s back 
with such accuracy that it takes off a strip of skin from her 
neck to her girdle. Then he swings the knout anew, with 
the same accuracy and the same result. In a few moments 
her skin hangs in shreds over her girdle, her whole form is 
dripping with blood, and the shuddering spectators venture 
not a single bravo for this dexterous executioner.* 

The work is finished! With a flayed back Eleonore is 
raised upon the shoulders of the executioner. She has not 
screamed, she has not moaned, she has remained dumb and 
without complaint, but she has prayed to God for vengeance 
and expiation for the shame inflicted upon her. 

And again advances the executioner, with a pair of pin- 
cers in hishand. Eleonore looks at him through eyes flam- 
ing with anger. 

“ What would you?” she coldly asks. 

“ Tear out your tongue!” answers he, with a rude laugh. 
Two of the executioner’s assistants then seizing her, grasp 
her head. 

This time Eleonore defends herself—despair lends her 
strength. Freeing herself from the grasp of these barba- 
rous executioners, she falls upon her knees, and, raising her 
bloody arms toward heaven, implores the mercy of God; 
glarcing at the spectators, she implores their pity and their 
aid; turning her eyes toward the proud imperial palace, 


* L’ Abbé Chappe d’Auteroche, “ Voyage en Sibérie,” vol. ii., p. 370. 


ELEONORE LAPUSCHKIN, 189 


where Elizabeth sits enthroned, she begs there for grace 
and mercy.* 

But as all remained silent, and as neither God nor man, 
nor yet the empress, had mercy upon her, a wild rage took 
possession of EHleonore’s soul. 

Raising her eyes toward heaven with flaming glances, 
she exclaimed : 

“Woe to this merciless Elizabeth! Woe to this woman 
who has no compassion for another woman! What she 
now does to me, do Thou also to her, my God and Lord! 
Grant that she be flayed as she has now flayed me! Grant 
her a daughter, and let that daughter before her mother’s 
eyes suffer what I now suffer,O my God! Woe to Eliza- 
beth, and woe to you, ye cowardly slaves, who can look on 
and see a woman flayed and tortured! Shame and perdi- 
tion to Russia and its Empress Elizabeth !” 

These were Eleonore’s last words. With a wild rage her 
executioners seized her for the purpose of tearing out her 
tongue. And when that was accomplished, and her hus- 
band and son had suffered a similar martyrdom, all three 
were placed upon a kibitka, to be conveyed to Siberia. 

Eleonore could no longer speak with her tongue, but 
her eyes spoke, and those eyes continued to repeat the 
prayer for vengeance she had addressed to Heaven: “ Grant 
to this Empress Elizabeth a daughter, and let that daugh- 
ter’s sufferings be like mine.” 


* Levecque, vol. v., p. 242, 


190 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


CHAPTER XX. 


A WEDDING. 


THE people dispersed. The great returned to their pal- 
aces, and also Alexis Razumoysky, who, that he might not 
excite the anger of the empress, had likewise attended the 
execution, returned to the imperial palace. 

Elizabeth was standing before a large Venetian mirror, 
scrutinizing a toilet which she had to-day changed for the 
fourth time. 

“Well,” she asked of Alexis, as he entered, “was it an 
interesting spectacle? Was the handsome countess soundly 
whipped ?” 

_And, while so asking, she was smilingly occupied in at- 
taching a purple flower to her hair. 

“She was flayed,” laconically replied Alexis. ‘“ Her 
blood streamed down a back that was as red as your beauti- 
ful lips, Elizabeth.” 

Elizabeth offered him her lips to kiss. 

“Now,” she jestingly asked, “who is now the hand- 
somest woman in my realm?” 

“You are and always were!” responded Alexis, embrac- 
ing her. 

“ And now tell me,” said she, with curiosity, “ what did 
this proud countess do? How did she behave, what did she 
say ? ” 

Alexis, seating himself upon a tabouret at her feet, re- 
lated to her all about the fair Eleonore, and what a terrible 
curse she uttered. 


A WEDDING. 191 


“ Ah, nonsense!” replied Elizabeth, shrugging her shoul- 
ders, “ How can one make such a stupid prayer to God! I 
shall never marry, and therefore never have a daughter to 
be scourged with the knout.” 

But while thus speaking, her eyes suddenly became fixed 
and her cheek pale. She laid her trembling hand upon her 
heart—tears gushed from her eyes. 

Under her heart she had felt the movement of a 
new and mysterious life! Heaven itself seemed to con- 
tradict her words! Elizabeth felt that she was a mother, 
and Eleonore’s words now filled her with awe and 
terror! | 

Fainting, she sank into Razumovsky’s arms. 

A few weeks later, a great and magnificent court festi- 
val was celebrated at the imperial palace in St. Petersburg. 
It was not enough that Elizabeth had chosen a successor in 
the person of Peter, Duke of Holstein, she must also give 
this successor a wife, that the throne might be fortified and 
assured by a numerous progeny. 

She chose for him the Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst, the 
young and beautiful Sophia Augusta, who, embracing the 
Greek religion, received the name of Catharine. 

It was the marriage festival of this young German 
princess with the heir to the Russian throne which was 
celebrated in the imperial palace at St. Petersburg—a festi- 
val of splendor and enthusiasm, as it was attended by two 
women of the most exciting beauty, Elizabeth the present 
and Catharine the future empress—the one gorgeous with 
the splendor of the present, the other irradiated with the 
glory of the future. People looked at the fair youthful 


192 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


face of Catharine, and sought to read in her majestic high 
forehead the hopes that Russia might cherish of her! It 
was, therefore, a festival of the present and future that was 
there and then celebrated, and the magnates humbly pros- 
trated themselves before this new star, and threw them- 
selves upon the earth before the ever-new sun of imperial 
majesty which shone upon them in the person of Eliza- 
beth. 

Catharine with a joyful spirit and a proud smile laid 
her hand in that of Peter, and as she stepped with him to 
the altar she thought: “I do this that I may one day be 
empress! and as I can reach that position in no other way 
—well, then, let them call me the wife of this under-aged 
boy! I will suffer it until the time comes when I shall no 
longer suffer, but command.” 

With such thoughts did Catharine become the wife of 
the Grand-duke Peter, who, as he with a loud and solemn 
“ ves ” vowed eternal truth to his young wife, looked at the 
Countess Woronzow, and both exchanged a stolen smile and 
a glowing glance of love. 

“They may henceforth call this proud Catharine my 
wife,” thought Petér, “ but I shall never love her, as my 
heart will ever belong to my dear Woronzow! But Eliza- 
beth has decided that Catharine shall be my wife. I ac- 
commodate myself to her command, and obey now, that I 
may one day command! But then woe to the wife this day 
forced upon me!” 

And when the ceremony was ended, the new-married 
pair received with smiling faces and radiant glances the 
congratulations of the court, which in loud and ecstatic ex- 


A WEDDING. 193 


clamations commended the love and happiness of this young 
princely pair. 

On the same day a second marriage was celebrated in 
this same imperial palace, perhaps not so splendid, but cer- 
tainly a happier one, for it was love that united the two— 
love had overcome Elizabeth’s aversion to marriage, and 
decided her to raise her dear Alexis Razumovsky to the 
position of her husband—love, and also a little supersti- 
tion! As the son born to Elizabeth some months pre- 
viously had died soon after its birth, and in this dispensa- 
tion Elizabeth recognized the punishment of heaven in dis- 
approval of her connection with Alexis, she shudderingly 
remembered the words spoken by Eleonore Lapuschkin, 
and her heart was filled with fear for he children which 
the future might bring to her. 

“T will destroy the curse which this Countess Lapusch- 
kin has pronounced against my children,” thought Eliza- 
beth, as she now for the second time felt herself to be a 
mother. “If God blesses my children, the curse of no hu- 
man being can affect them, and this revengeful prayer of 
the countess will have no more power when the priest of 
God has consecrated and blessed the child now quietly re- 
posing under my heart!” 

This was the reason why Elizabeth resolved to marry 
Alexis Razumoysky ; this was the reason why she, in a soli- 
tary chapel, accompanied only by Lestocq and the priest, 
stood before the marriage-altar with Alexis, and became his 
wife. 

She breathed freer when the priest had pronounced his 
blessing upon her; an oppressive weight was lifted from 


194 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


her heart ; the child she was about to bear was saved and 
sheltered, and Eleonore’s curse had no longer any power 
over it! 

On the next day Elizabeth appointed Alexis field-mar- 
shal, and raised him in the ranks of the nobility. 

“We must at any rate give our son a respectable father,” 
said she. ‘I hope we shall have a son, who will be as 
beautiful as his father; whom I will overload with honors, 
and place high above all the magnates of my court. Ah, a 
son! No daughter, Alexis!” 

“ And why no daughter?” smilingly asked Razumov- 
sky. 

Elizabeth shuddered, and, clinging to her beloved, 
whispered : 

“Has not Eleonore Lapuschkin said, ‘ Give her a daugh- 
ter, and let her, before the eyes of her mother, experience 
what I now suffer!’ Oh, Alexis, wish me therefore no 
daughter! I should always tremble for her!” 

And God seemed to have listened to the anxious prayer 
of the empress. Again she bore a son, but again the son 
died shortly after his birth. 

“It is very sad to lose a child, and especially a son,” 
sighed Elizabeth, and involuntarily she thought of Anna, 
that poor mother whom she had robbed of her son, that he 
might grow up in eternal joyless imprisonment, that he 
~might be morally murdered, and from a man be converted 
into an idiot! | 

“This is God’s vengeance!” whispered something in 
her breast, but Elizabeth shrank from these low whisper- 
ings of her conscience, and she tremulously said : “ I wiil not 


A WEDDING. 195 


listen to it! Away, ye intrusive thoughts! I am an em- 
press—for me there are no crimes, no laws! An empress 
is exalted above all law, and whatever she does is right! 
Away, away, therefore, ye troublesome thoughts! This boy 
ivan must remain in prison; I cannot restore him to his 
mother. May she bear other children, and then new joys 
will bloom for her!” 

But these thoughts would not be thus banished, they 
constantly haunted her; they left not her nightly couch; 
' they constantly renewed their dismal, awful whisperings; 
and this all-powerful empress would loudly shriek with 
mortal anguish, and she was dismayed at being left alone - 
with her thoughts. 

“T will have society around me,” said she, “and will 
never be alone; the people about me shall always laugh 
and jest, to cheer me and distract my thoughts. Hasten, 
hasten—call my court; the most jovial men shall be most 
welcome! And, do you hear, above all things, bring me 
wine, the best and strongest wine. When I drink plenty 
of it, I shall again become gay and happy; it drives away 
all cares, and renders the heart light and free!” 

And they came, the merriest gentlemen of the court ; it 
also came, the strong, fiery wine; and, after an hour, Eliza- 
beth’s brow beamed with renewed pleasure, while her heavy 
tongue with difficulty stammered : 

“ How beautiful it yet is to be an empress—for an em- 
press there is only joy and delight, and endless pleasures! ” 


196 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


CHAPTER XXI. 


SCENES AND PORTRAITS. 


YEARS passed—famous and glorious years for Russia. 
-Peace within her borders, and splendid victories gained 

over foreign enemies, particularly over the Prussians. In 
songs of jubilee the people praised and blessed their em- 
press, whose wisdom had brought all to such a glorious con- 
clusion, and had made her country great, triumphant, and 
happy. | Rha 

The good Elizabeth! What had she to do with the vic- 
tories of her soldiers, with the happiness of her realm? 
She knew nothing of it, and if peace prevailed throughout 
the Russian empire, it was absolutely unknown in the im- 
perial palace, where there was eternal war, a never-ending 
feud! There the young Catharine contended with her hus- 
band, whom she hated and abhorred; with Elizabeth, who 
saw in her a dangerous rival. But it was an unequal strug- 
gle in which these two women were engaged, for Elizabeth 
had on her side the power and dominion, while Catharine 
had only her youth, her beauty, and her tears! 

Elizabeth hated Catharine because she dared to remain 
young and handsome, while she, the empress, saw that she 
was growing old, and her charms were withering; and 
Catharine hated Elizabeth because the latter denied her a 
right which the empress daily claimed for herself—the 
right to choose a lover, and to love him as long as he pleased 
her. She hated Elizabeth because the latter surrounded 
her with spies and watchers, and required of her a strict 


SCENES AND PORTRAITS. 197 


virtue, a never-violated matrimonial fidelity—fidelity to the 
husband who so far derided and insulted his wife as to de- 
mand that she should receive into her circle and treat with 
respect and kindness his own mistress, the Countess Woron- 
zow—fidelity to this husband, who had never shown her any 
thing but contempt and neglect, and who had no other way 
of entertaining her than teaching her to march in military 
fashion, and stand as a sentinel at his door! 

Wounded in her inmost being and her feminine honor, 
tired of the eternal pin-prickings with which Elizabeth tor- 
mented her, Catharine retreated into her most retired 
apartment, there in quiet to reflect upon her dishonorable 
greatness, and yearningly to dream of a splendid future. 
“ For the future,” said she, with sparkling eyes to her con- 
fidante, Princess Daschkow, “ the future is mine, they can- 
not deprive me of it. For that I labor and think and study. 
Ah, when my future shall have become the present, then 
will I encircle my brows with a splendid imperial diadem, 
and astonish you all with my greatness and magnificence.” 

“But you forget your husband!” smilingly interposed 
Princess Daschkow. “He will a little obscure the splendor 
of your imperial crown, as he will always be the first in the 
realm. He is the all-powerful emperor, and you will be 
powerless, although an empress! ” 

Catharine proudly tossed her head, and her eyes flashed. 

“ T shall one day remember all the mortifications he has 
inflicted upon me,” said she, “ and an hour will come when 
I shall have a reckoning with him, and full retribution: 
Ah, talk not to me of my husband—Russian emperors have 
never been immortal, and why should he be so?” 


198 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


“ Catharine!” exclaimed the Princess Daschkow, turn- 
ing pale, “ you cannot think—” 

“JT think,” interposed Catharine, with an unnatural 
smile, “ I think the Russian emperors are not immortal, and 
that this good Empress Elizabeth is very fortunate in having 
no emperor who presumes to stand over her and have a will 
more potent than her own!” 

“ Ah, Elizabeth has no will at all!” laughingly responded 
the princess. 

“ But I shall have a will!” said Catharine, proudly. - 

The Princess Daschkow had spoken the truth. Eliza- 
beth had no longer any will ; she let Bestuscheff govern, and 
was herself ruled by Alexis Razumovsky, the field-marshal, 
her husband. She did whatever these two required, will- 
ingly yielding to them in all cases demanding no personal 
effort on her part. On this point only had she a will of 
her own, which she carried through with an iron hand. 

“T have not become empress that I might labor, but 
that I might amuse myself,” said she. “I have not set the 
crown upon my head for the purpose of governing, but for 
the purpose of enjoying life. Spare me, therefore, the 
labor of signing your documents. I will sign nothing 
more, for my hand is not accustomed to holding the pen, 
and the ink soils my fingers, which is unworthy of an em- 
press!” 

“Tt is only one signature that I implore of you to-day,” 
said Bestuscheff, handing her a letter. “ Have the great 
kindness to make an exception of this one single case, by 
signing this letter to King Louis XV. of France.” 

“ What have I to write to this King of France?” fret- 


SCENES AND PORTRAITS. 199 


fully asked Elizabeth. “ Why should I doit? It is a long 
time since he has sent me any new dresses, although he 
might well know that nothing is more important for an 
empress than a splendid and varied wardrobe! Why, then, 
should I write to this King of France?” 

“Your majesty, it is here question of a simple act of 
courtesy,” said Bestuscheff, pressingly ; “an act the omis- 
sion of which may be attended with the most disagreeable 
consequences, perhaps indeed involve usin awar. Think 
of the peace of your realm, the welfare of your people, and 
sign this letter!” 

“ But what does it contain that is so important?” asked 
the empress, with astonishment. “I now remember that 
for a year past you have been importuning me about this! ”. 

“Yes, your majesty, 1 have been for the last three years 
daily imploring of you this signature, and you have refused 
it to me; and yet the letter is so necessary! It is against 
all propriety not to send it! For it is a letter of congratu- 
lation to the King of France, who in an autograph letter 
announced to you the birth of his grandson. Reflect, your 
majesty, that he wrote you with his own hand, and for three 
years you have refused to give yourself the small trouble to 
sign the answer I have prepared.* This prince, for whose 
birth you are to congratulate the king, is now old enough 
to express his own thanks for the sympathy you manifest 
for him.” 

Elizabeth laughed. ‘ Well,” said she, “I shall finally be 
obliged to comply with your wishes, that you may leave me 


* Mannstein, Mémoires, vol. iii., p. 98. 


200 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


in peace. For three years I have patiently borne your im. 
portunities for this signature. My patience is now at an 
end, and I will sign the letter, that I may be freed from 
your solicitations. Give me, therefore, that intolerable pen, 
but first pour out a glass of Malvoisie, and hold it ready, 
that I may strengthen myself with it after the labor is ac- 
complished.” 

Elizabeth, sighing, took the pen and slowly and anx- 
iously subscribed her name to this three-years-delayed letter 
of congratulation to the King of France. 

“ So,” said she, throwing down her pen after the com- 
pletion of her task—“ so, but you must not for a long time 
again trouble me with any such work, and to-day I have 
well earned the right to a very pleasant evening. Nothing 
more of business—no, no, not a word more of it! I will 
not have these delightful hours embittered by your absurdi- 
ties! Away with you, Bestuscheff, and let my field-mar- 
shal, Count Razumovsky, be called !” 

And when Alexis came, Elizabeth smilingly said to him: 
“ Alexis, the air is to-day so fine and fresh that we will take 
aride. Quick, quick! And know you where?” 

Razumovsky nodded. “To the villa!” said he, with a 
smile. 

“ Yes, to the villa!” cried Elizabeth, “to see my daugh- 
ter at the villa!” 

She therefore now had a daughter, and this daughter 
had not died like her two sons. She lived, she throve in 
the freshness of childhood, and Elizabeth loved her with 
idolatrous tenderness ! 

But precisely on account of this tenderness did she care- 


SCENES AND PORTRAITS. 201 


fully conceal the existence of this daughter, keeping her far 
from the world, ignorant of her high birth, unsuspicious of 
her mother’s greatness ! 

The fatal words of the Countess Lapuschkin still re- 
sounded in the ears of the empress: “ Give this Elizabeth a 
daughter, and let that daughter experience what I now 
suffer !” 

Such had been the prayer of the bleeding countess, 
flayed by the executioners of the empress, and the words 
were continually echoing in Elizabeth’s heart. 

Ah, she was indeed a lofty empress; she had the power 
to banish thousands to Siberia, and was yet so powerless 
that she could not banish those words from her mind which 
Eleonore Lapuschkin had planted there. 

Eleonore was therefore avenged! And while the count- 
ess bore the torments of her banishment with smiling forti- 
tude, Elizabeth trembled on her throne at the words of her 
banished rival—words that seemed to hang, like the sword 
of Damocles, over the head of her daughter! 

Perhaps it was precisely for the reason that she so much 
feared for her daughter, that she loved her so very warmly. 
It was a passionate, an adoring tenderness that she felt for 
the child, and nevertheless she had the courage to keep her 
at a distance from herself, to see her but seldom, that no 
one might suspect the secret of her birth. 

Eleonore’s words had brought reflection to Elizabeth. 
She comprehended that her legitimate daughter would cer- 
tainly be threatened with great dangers after her death ; 
she had shudderingly thought of poor Ivan in Schliissel- 


burg, and she said to herself: “ As I have held him impris- 
14 


202 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


oned as a pretender, so may it happen to my daughter, one 
day, when Iam no more! Ivan had but a doubtful right 
to my throne, but Natalie is indisputably the grand-daugh- 
ter of Peter the Great—the blood of the great Russian czar 
flows in her veins, and therefore Peter will fear Natalie as I 
feared Ivan; therefore will he imprison and torment her as 
I have imprisoned and tormented Ivan!” 

By this affectionate anxiety was Elizabeth induced to 
make a secret of the existence of her daughter, which was 
imparted to but a few confidential friends. 

The little Natalie was raised in a solitary country-house 
not far from the city, and her few servants and people were 
forbidden under pain of death to admit any stranger into 
the constantly-closed and always-watched house. No one 
was to enter it without a written order of the empress, and 
but few such written orders were given. 

Elizabeth, then, as it were to recompense herself for the 
trouble of signing the letter to the King of France, resolved 
to visit her daughter to-day with her husband. 

*‘ Rasczinsky may precede and announce us,” said she. 
“We will take our dinner there, and he may say to our 
major-domo that we are going to Peterhoff. Then no one 
will be surprised that we make a short halt at my little 
villa in passing, or, rather, they will know nothing of it. 
Call Rasczinsky !” 

Count Rasczinsky was one of the few who were ac- 
quainted with the secret, and might accompany the empress 
in these visits. Elizabeth had unlimited confidence in him; 
she knew him to be a silent nobleman, and she estimated 
him the more highly from the fact that he seemed much 


SCENES AND PORTRAITS, 203 


attached to the charming, beautiful, and delicate child, her 
daughter. She remarked that he appeared to love her as a 
brother, that he constantly and fondly watched over her, and 
that he was never better pleased than when, as a child, he 
could jest and play with her. 

“ Rasczinsky, we are about to ride out to the villa on a 
visit to Natalie! ” she said, when the count entered. 

The count’s eyes beamed with pleasure. “And I may 
be permitted to accompany your majesty?” he hastily 
asked. 

The empress smiled. “ How impetuous you are!” said 
she. ‘“ Would not one think you were a dying lover, a sigh- 
ing shepherd, and it was question of seeking your tender 
shepherdess, instead of announcing to a child of eleven 
years the speedy arrival of her mother?” 

“Your majesty,” said Count Rasczinsky, laughing, “I 
am not in love, but I adore this child as my good angel. 
I can never do or think any thing bad in Natalie’s pres- 
ence. She is so pure and innocent that one casts down his 
eyes with shame before her, and when she glances at me 
with her large, deep, and yet so childish eyes, I could di- 
rectly fall upon my knees and confess to her all my sins!” 

“ You would not have many to confess,” said Elizabeth, 
“for your sins are few. You are the pride of my court, 
and, as I am told, a true pattern of all knightly virtues. 
Remain so, and who knows, my fair young count, what 
the future may bring you? Love my Natalie now only 
as an angel of innocence; let her grow up as such, and 
then—” 

“And then?” asked the count, as the empress stopped. 


204 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRKSS. 


“Then we shall see!” smilingly responded Elizabeth. 
“‘ But now hasten forward to announce us.” 

“ Your majesty forgets that, to enable one to penetrate 
into this enchanted castle, your written command is re- 
quired !” 

“Ah, that is true!” said Elizabeth, stepping to her 
writing-table. This time she was not too indolent to write ; 
no representations nor prayers were needed. It concerned 
the seeing of her daughter—how, then, could she have 
thought writing painful or troublesome? 

With the same pen with which, a short time before, she 
had so unwillingly signed the congratulatory letter, she now 
wrote upon a sheet of paper, provided with her seal these 
words: 

“The Count Rasczinsky may be admitted. 

ELIZABETH.” 

She handed the paper to the count, who pressed it to 
bis lips. 

“You can retain this paper for all time,” said the em- 
press, as she dismissed him. ‘I know that I can wholly 
confide in you. You will never sell or betray my Natalie?” 

“‘ Never!” protested the count, taking his leave. 

Hastily mounting his horse, he galloped through the 
streets, and when, haying left the city behind him, he 
found himself in the open country where no one could ob- 
serve him, he drew the paper Elizabeth had given him from 
his bosom, and waving it high in the air, shouted : 

“Good fortune, good fortune! This paper is my talis- 
man and my future! With this paper I will give Russia 
an empress, and make myself her emperor!” 


PRINCES ALSO MUST DIE, 205 


CHAPTER XXII. 


PRINCES ALSO MUST DIE. 


Yrs, even princes must die, glorious and lofty as they 
are, proudly as they stand over their trembling subjects! 
Even to them comes the dark hour in which all the bor- 
rowed and artistically-combined tinsel of their lives falls 
from them; a dark hour, in which they tremble and repent, 
and pray to God for what they seldom granted to their fel- 
low-men—mercy! Mercy for those false tales which they 
have imposed upon the people, for those false tales of the 
higher endowments of princes, of inherited wisdom which 
raises them above the rest of mankind—mercy for their 
arbitrariness, their pride, and their insolence—mercy for a 
poor beggar, who, until then, had called himself a rich and 
powerful prince. 

And this hour came for Elizabeth. After twenty years 
of splendor, of absolute, unlimited power, of infallibility, of 
likeness to the gods, came the depressing hour in which 
Elizabeth ceased to be an'empress, and became only a trem- 
bling earth-worm, imploring mercy, aid, amelioration of her 
sufferings from her Creator! 

She suffered much, this poor empress, dethroned by 
death; she suffered, although reposing upon silken cush- 
ions, with a gold-embroidered covering for her shaking limbs. 

And she was yet so young, hardly fifty, and she loved 
life so intensely! Oh, she would have given the half of her 
empire for a few more years of life and enjoyment. But 
what cares Death for the wishes of an empress? Here ends 


206 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


her earthly supremacy! Groaning and writhing, the earth- 
worm tremblingly submits. 

Where, now, were all her favorites—those high lords of 
the court, those grand noblemen, created from soldiers, 
grooms, lackeys, and serfs—where were they now? Why 
stood they not around the death-bed of theirempress? Why 
were they not there, that the remembrance of the benefits 
conferred upon them might drive away those terrible rem- 
iniscences of the torments she had inflicted upon others? 
Where were they, her counts, barons, field-marshals, and 
privy councillors, whom she had raised from nothing to the 
first positions in the realm ? 

None were with her! They had all hastened thence for 
the preservation of their ill-gotten wealth, to crawl in the 
dust before Peter, to be the first to pay him homage, that he 
might pardon their greatness and their possessions! From 
the death-bed they had fled to Peter, and kneeling before 
him, they praised God for at lngth bestowing upon the 
happy realm the noblest and best ruler, Peter ITI. ! 

But where were Elizabeth’s more particular friends, who 
had made her an empress? | 

Where was Lestocq ? 

Him the empress had banished to Siberia. Yielding to 
the prayers and calumnies of his enemies, which she was too 
weak to withstand, she had given him up; she had sacrificed 
him to procure peace and quiet for herself, and in the same 
hour in which she had tenderly pressed his hand, and 
called him her friend, had she signed his sentence of ban- 
ishment! Lestocq had for nine years languished in Si- 
beria. 


PRINCES ALSO MUST DIE. 207 


Where was Griinstein? Banished, cast off, like Les- 
tocq. 

Where was Alexis Razumoysky ? 

Ah, well for her! He stood at her bedside, he pressed 
her cold hand in his; he yet, in the face of death, thanked 
her for all the benefits she had heaped upon him. But, 
alas! she was also surrounded by others—by wild, pale, 
terrible forms, which were unseen by all except the dying 
empress! She there saw the tortured face of Anna Leo- 
poldowna, whom she had let die in prison; there grinned 
at her the idiotic face of Ivan, whose mind she had de- 
stroyed; there saw she the angry-flashing eye and bloody 
form of Eleonore Lapuschkin, and, springing up from her 
bed, the empress screeched with terror, and folded her 
trembling hands in prayer to God for grace and mercy for 
her daughter, for Natalie, that He would turn away the 
horrible curse that Eleonore had hurled at her child. 

Alexis Razumovsky stood by her bedside, weeping. 
Overcome, as it seemed, by his sorrow, another left the 
death-chamber of the empress, and rushed to his horse, 
standing ready in the court below! This other was Count 
Rasczinsky, the confidant of the empress. 

The bells rang in St. Petersburg, the cannon roared; 
there were both joy and sorrow in what the bells and can- 
non announced ! 

The Empress Elizabeth was dead; the Emperor Peter 
III. ascended the throne of the czars as absolute ruler of 
the Russian realm. The first to bow before him was his 
wife. With her son of five years old in her arms, she had 
thrown herself upon her knees, and touching the floor with 


908 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


her forehead, she had implored grace and love for herself 
and her son; and Peter, raising her up, had presented her 
to the people as his empress. 

In St. Petersburg the bells rang, the cannon thundered 
—‘ The empress is dead, long live the emperor!” 

Before the villa stopped a foam-covered steed, from 
which dismounted a horseman, who knocked at the closed 
door. To the porter who looked out from a sliding win- 
dow he showed the written order of Elizabeth for his ad- 
mission. The porter opened the door, and with the loud 
cry, ‘ Natalie, Natalie!” the Count Rasczinsky rushed into 
the hall of the house. 

The bells continued to ring, the cannon to thunder. 
There was great rejoicing in St. Petersburg. 

Issuing from the villa, Count Rasczinsky again mounted 
his foaming steed. 

Like a storm-wind swept he over the plain—but not 
toward St. Petersburg, not toward the city where the people 
were saluting their new emperor ! 

Away, away, far and wide in the distance, his horse 
bounded and panted, bleeding with the spurs of his rider. 
Excited constantly to new speed, he as constantly bounds 
onward. , 

_ Like a nocturnal spectre flies he through the desert 
waste; the storm-wind drives him forward, it lifts the 
mantle that enwraps him like a cloud, and under that man- 
tle is seen an angel-face, the smile of a delicate little girl, 
two tender childish arms clasping the form of the count, a 
slight elfish form tremblingly reposing upon the count’s 
breast. 


PRINCES ALSO MUST DIE. 209 


“You weep not, my angel,’ whispered the count, while 
rushing forward with restless haste. 

“No, no, I neither weep nor tremble, for I am with 
you!” breathed a sweet, childish voice. 

“ Cling closer to me, my sweet blossom, recline your - 
head against my breast. See, evening approaches !—Night 
will spread its protecting veil over us, and God will be our 
conductor and safeguard! I shall save you, my angel, my 
charming child!” 

The steed continues his onward course. 

The child smilingly reclines upon the bosom of the 
rider, over whom the descending sun sheds its red parting 
beams. 

Like a phantom flies he onward, like a phantom he dis- 
appears there on the border of the forest. Was it only a 
delusive appearance, a fata morgana of the desert? 

No, again and again the evening breeze raises the man- 
tle of the rider, and the charming angelic brow is still seen 
resting upon the bosom of the count. 

No, it is no dream, it is truth and reality! 

Like a storm-wind flies the count over hill and heath, 
and on his bosom reposes Natalie, the daughter of the em 
press ! 





210 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


CHAPTER XXIII. 


THE CHARMED GARDEN. 


ONE must be very happy or very unhappy to love Soli- 
tude, to lean upon her silent breast, and, fleeing mankind, 
to seek in its arms what is so seldom found among men, re- 
pose for happiness or consolation for sorrow! For the 
happy, solitude provides the most delightful festival, as it 
allows one in the most enjoyable resignation to repose in 
himself, to breathe out himself, to participate in himself! 
But it also provides a festival for the unhappy—a festival 
of the memory, of living in the past, of reflection upon 
those long-since vanished joys, the loss of which has caused 
the sorrow! For the children of the world, for the striving, 
for the seeker of inordinate enjoyments, for the ambitious, 
for the sensual, solitude is but ill-adapted—only for the hap- 
py, for the sorrow-laden, and also for the innocent, who yet 
know nothing of the world, of neither its pleasures nor 
torments, of neither its loves nor hatreds! 

So thought and spoke the curious Romans when passing 
the high walls surrounding the beautiful garden formerly 
belonging to the Count Appiani. At an earlier period this 
garden had been well known to all of them, as it had been 
a sort of public promenade, and under its shady walks had 
many a tender couple exchanged their first vows and experi- 
enced the rapture of the first kiss of love. But for the four 
last years all this had been changed; a rich stranger had 
come and offered to the impoverished old Count Appiani a 
large sum for this garden with its decaying villa, and the 


THE CHARMED GARDEN. 911 


count had, notwithstanding the murmurs of the Romans, 
sold his last possession to the stranger. He had said to the 
grumbling Romans: “ You are dissatisfied that I part with 
my garden for money. You were pleased to linger in the 
shady avenues, to listen to these murmuring fountains and 
rustling cypresses; you have walked here, you have here 
laughed and enjoyed yourselves, while I, sitting in my dilap- 
idated villa, have suffered deprivation and hunger. I will 
make you a proposition. Collect this sum, you Romans, 
which this stranger offers me; ye who love to promenade in 
my garden, unite yourselves in a common work. Let each 
one give what he can, until the necessary amount is col- 
lected, then the garden will be your common property, where 
you can walk as much as you please, and I shall be happy 
to be relieved from poverty by my own countrymen, and 
not compelled to sell to a stranger the garden so a 
to the Romans!” 

But the good Romans had no answer to make to Count 
Appiani. They, indeed, would have the enjoyment, but it 
must cost them nothing—in vain had they very much loved 
this garden, had taken great pleasure under its shady trees; 
but when it became necessary to pay for these pleasures, 
they found that they were not worth the cost, that they 
could very well dispense with them. 

The good Romans therefore turned away from this gar- 
den, which threatened them with a tax, and sought other 
places of recreation; while old Count Appiani sold his gar- 
den and the ruins of his villa to the rich stranger who had 
offered him so considerable a sum for them. From that 
day forward every thing in the garden had assumed a dif- 


912 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


ferent appearance. Masons, carpenters, and upholsterers 
had come and so improved the villa, within and without, 
that it now made a stately and beautiful appearance amid 
the dense foliage of the trees. It had been expensively and 
splendidly furnished with every thing desirable for a rich 
man’s dwelling, and the upholsterers had enough to relate to 
the listening Romans of the elegant magnificence now dis- 
played in this formerly pitiable villa. How gladly would 
the former promenaders now have returned to this garden; 
how gladly would they now have revisited this villa, which, 
with its deserted halls and its ragged and dirty tapestry, 
had formerly seemed to them not worth looking at! But 
their return to it was now rendered impossivle; for on the 
same day in which the new owner took possession of the 
garden, he had brought with him more than fifty workmen, 
who had immediately commenced surrounding it with a 
high wall. 

Higher and higher rose the wall; nobody could see over 
it, as no giant was sufficiently tall; no one could climb over | 
it, as the smoothly-hammered stones of which it was built 
offered not the least supporting point. The garden with 
its villa had become a secret mystery to the Romans! 
They yet heard the rustling of the trees, they saw the green 
branches waving in the wind; but of what occurred under 
those branches and in those shaded walks they could know 
nothing. At first, some curious individuals had ventured 
to knock at the low, narrow door that formed the only en- 
trance into this walled garden. They had knocked at that 
door and demanded entrance. Then would a small sliding 
window be opened, and a gruff, bearded man with angry 


THE CHARMED GARDEN. 213 


voice would ask what was wanted, and at the same time in- 
form the knocker that no one could be admitted; that he 
and his two bulldogs would be able to keep the garden clear 
of all intruders. And the two great hounds, as if they 
understood the threats of their master, would show their 
teeth, and their threatening growl would rise to a loud and 
angry bark. 

They soon ceased to knock at that door, and, as they 
could not gain admission, they took the next best course, of 
assuming the appearance of not wishing it. 

Four years had since passed; they had overcome the 
desire to enter the premises or to look over the wall, but 
they told wondrous tales of the garden and of a beautiful 
fairy who dwelt in it, and whose soft, melodious voice was 
sometimes heard in the stillness of the night singing sweet, 
transporting songs. No one had seen her, this fairy, but 
she was certainly beautiful, and of course young; there 
were also some bold individuals who asserted that when the 
moon shone brightly and goldenly, the young fairy was 
then to be seen in the tops of the trees or upon the edge of 
the wall. Light as an elf, transparent as a moonbeam, she 
there swung to and fro, executing singular dances and sing- 
ing songs that brought tears to the eyes and compassion to 
the hearts of those who heard them. On hearing these 
tales, the Romans would make the sign of the cross, and 
pass more quickly by the walls of this garden, which thence- 
forth they called “The Charmed Garden.” It was indeed 
a charmed garden! It was an island of happiness, behind 
these walls, concealed from the knavery of the world. Like 
an eternal smile of the Divinity rested the heavens over 


214 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


this ever-biooming, ever-fragrant garden, in whose myrtle- 
bushes the nightingales sang, and in whose silver-clear, 
basins the goldfishes splashed. 

Yes, it was indeed a charmed garden, and also hed its 
fairy, who, if she did not compete with the moonbeams in 
rocking herself on the tops of the trees and the edges of the 
wall, was nevertheless as delicate as an elf, and who tripped 
from flower to brook and from brook to hill as lightly and 
gracefully as the gazelle. The whole spring, the whole 
youth of nature, flashed and beamed from this beautiful 
maiden-face, so full of childlike innocence, purity, and 
peace. No storm had as yet passed over these smiling fea- 
tures, not the smallest leaf of this rose had been touched by 
an ungentle hand; freely and freshly had she blossomed in 
luxuriant natural beauty ; she had drunk the dews of heaven, 
but not the dew of tears, for those deeply-dark beaming 
eyes had wept only such tears as were called forth by emo- 
tions of joy and happiness. 

She sat under a myrtle, whose blossoming branches 
bent down to her as if they would entwine that pure and 
tender brow with a bridal wreath. With her head thrown 
back upon these branches, she reposed with an inimitable 
grace her reclining form. A white transparent robe, held 
by a golden clasp, fell in waves to her little feet, which were 
encased in gold-embroidered slippers of dark-red leather. 
A blushing rose was fastened by a diamond pin in the folds 
of her dress upon her budding bosom, finely contrasting 
with the delicate flush upon her cheeks. A guitar reste? 
upon her full round arm. She had been singing, this beau: 
tiful fairy child, but her song was now silenced, and she was 


THE CHARMED GARDEN. 915 


glancing up to the clouds, following their movements with 
her dreamy, thoughtful eyes. A smile hovered about her 
fresh, youthful lips—the smile peculiar to innocence and 
happiness. | 

She dreamed; precious, ecstatic images passed before 
her mental eyes; she dreamed of a distant land in which 
she had once been, of a distant house in which she had once 
dwelt. It was even more beautiful and splendid than this 
which she now occupied, but it had lacked this blue sky 
and fragrant atmosphere ; it lacked these trees and flowers, 
these myrtle bushes, and these songs of the nightingale, and 
upon a few summer days had followed long, dull winter 
months with their cold winding-sheet of snow, with their 
benumbing masses of ice, and the fantastic flowers painted 
on the windows by the frost. And yet, and yet, there had 
been a sun which shone into her heart warmer than this 
bright sun of Italy, and the thought of which spread a pur- 
ple glow upon her cheeks. This sun had shone upon her 
from the tender glances of a lady whom she had loved 
as a tutelar genius, as a divinity,as the bright star of her 
existence! Whenever that lady had come to her in the 
solitary house in which she then dwelt, then had all ap- 
peared to her as in a transfiguration; then had even her 
peevish old servant learned to smile and become humble 
and friendly; then all was joy and happiness, and whoever 
saw that beautiful and brilliant lady, had thought himself 
blessed, and had fallen down to adore her. 

Of that lady was the young maiden now thinking, of 
that memorable woman with the flashing eyes whose ten- 
der glance had always penetrated the heart of the child 


216 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRKSS. 


with delight, whose gentle words yet resounded like music 
in her ears. 

Where was she now, this lady of her love, her longings? 
why had she been brought away from that house with its 
snowy winding-sheet and the ice drapery upon its windows? 
Where lay that house, and where had she to seek it with 
her thoughts? What was the language she had there 
spoken, and which she now secretly spoke in her heart, al- 
though nobody else addressed her in it, no one about her 
understood it; and wherefore had her friend and protector, 
he who had brought her here, who had always been with 
her, wherefore had he suddenly given himself the appear- 
ance of no longer understanding it? 

And even as she was thinking of him, of this dear friend 
and protector, he came along down the alley; his tall form 
appeared at the end of the walk; she recognized his noble 
features, with the proud eagle glance and the bold arched 
brow. 

The young maiden rose from her seat and hastened to 
meet him. 

“ How charming that you have come, Paulo,” she gayly 
said, stretching forth her little hands toward him. “I must 
ask you something, and that directly, Paulo. Tell me 
quickly what is that language called in which we formerly 
conversed together, and why have we ceased to speak it 
since we came here to Rome?” 

Paulo’s brow became slightly clouded, but when he 
looked into her beautiful face, animated by expectant curi- 
osity, this expression of displeasure quickly vanished from 
his features, and, threatening her with his finger, he said: 





we) 
bea 





THE CHARMED GARDEN. Q17T 


“ Always this same question, Natalie; and yet I have so 
often begged of you to forget the past, and live only in the 
present, my dear, sweet child! The past is sunken in an 
immeasurable gulf behind you, which you can never pass, 
and if it stretches out its arms to you, it will only be for 
the purpose of dragging you down into the abyss with it! 
Forget it, therefore, my Natalie, and yield thyself to this 
beautiful and delightful present, to increase for you the at- 
tractions of which will ever be the dearest task of my life.” 

“It is true,” said the young maiden, sighing, “I am 
wrong to be always recurring to those long-past times; you 
must pardon me, Paulo, but you will also acknowledge that 
my enigmatical past justifies me in feeling some curiosity. 
Only think how it began! You one day came rushing to 
my room, you pressed me all trembling to your heart, and 
silently bore me away. ‘ Natalie,’ said you, ‘danger threat- 
ens you; I will save, or perish with you!’ You mounted 
your horse with me in your arms. Behind us screamed and 
moaned the servants of my house, but you regarded them 
not, and I trustingly clung to your heart, for I knew that 
if danger threatened me, you would surely save me! Oh, 
do you yet remember that fabulous ride? How we rested 
in out-of-the-way houses, or with poor peasant people, and 
then proceeded on farther and farther! And how the sun 
constantly grew warmer, melting the snow, and you con- 
stantly became more cheerful and happy, until, one day, you 
impetuously pressed me to your bosom, and said: ‘ Nata- 
lie, we are saved! Life and the future are now yours! 
Look around you, we are in Italy. Here you can be free 
and happy!’” 

15 


218 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


“ And was not that a good prophecy?” asked Paulo. 
“ Has it not been fulfilled? Are you not happy?” 

“‘T should be so,” sighed Natalie, “could I avoid think- 
ing so often of that past! Those words which you then 
spoke to me were the last I ever heard in that language, 
which I had always spoken until then, but of which I know 
not the name! From that hour you spoke to me in an un- 
known tongue, and I felt like a poor deserted orphan, from 
whom was taken her last possession, her language!” 

“And yet whole peoples have been robbed of that last 
and dearest possession!” said Paulo, his brow suddenly 
darkening, “and not, as in your case, to save life and lib- 
erty, but for the purpose of enslaving and oppressing them.” 

Natalie, perceiving the sudden sadness of her friend, at~ 
tempted to smile, and, grasping his hand, she said: 

“Come, Paulo, we are naughty children, and vex our- 
selves with vagaries, while all nature is so cheerful and so 
replete with divine beauty. Only see with what glowing 
splendor the departing sun rests upon the tops of the cy- 
presses! Ah, it is nowhere so beautiful as here in my dear 
garden. This is my world and my happiness! Sometimes, 
Paulo, it makes me shudder to think that the walls sur- 
rounding us might suddenly tumble down, and all the tall 
houses standing behind them, and all the curious people 
lounging in the streets, could then look in upon my par- 
adise! That must be terrible, and yet Marianne tells me 
that other people live differently from us, that their houses 
are not surrounded by walls, and that no watchman with 
dogs drives away troublesome visitors from them. And yet, 
she says, they smilingly welcome such inconvenient people, 


THE CHARMED GARDEN. 219 


receiving them with friendly words, while they only thank 
God when they finally go and leave the occupants in peace. 
Is it then true, Paulo, that people can be so false to each 
other, and that those who live in the world never dare to 
speak as they think?” 

“Tt is, alas! but too true, Natalie,” said Paulo, with a 
sad smile. 

“'Then never let me become acquainted with such a 
world,” said the young maiden, clinging to Paulo’s arm. 
“ Let me always remain here in our solitude, which none 
but good people can share with us. For Marianne is good, 
as also Cecil, your servant; and Carlo—oh, Carlo would 
give his life for me. He is not false, like other people; I 
can confide in him.” 

“Think you so!” asked Paulo, looking deep into her 
eyes with a scrutinizing glance. 

She bore his glance with a cheerful and unembarrassed 
smile, and a roguish nod of her little head. 

“ You must certainly wish to paint me again, that you 
look at me so earnestly. No, Paulo, I will not sit to you 
‘again, you paint me much too handsome ; you make an angel 
of me, while I am yet only a poor little thing, who lives but. 
by your mercy, and does not even know her own name!” 

“ Angels never have a name, they are only known as 
angels, and. need no further designation. As there is an 
Angel Gabriel, so is there an Angel Natalie!” 

“ Mocker,” said she, laughing, “there are no feminine 
angels! But now come, be seated. Here is my guitar, and 
I will sing you a song for which Carlo yesterday brought. 
me the melody.” 


220 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


*¢ And the words? ” asked Paulo. 

“ Well, as to the words, they must come in the singing— 
to-day one set of words, to-morrow another. Who can 
know what glows in your heart at any given hour, and 
what you may feel in the next, and which will escape you 
in words unknown to yourself, and which unconsciously 
and involuntarily stream from your lips.” 

“You are my charming poetess, my Sappho!” ex- 
claimed Paulo, kissing her hand. 

“ Ah, would that you spoke true!” said she, with spark- 
ling eyes and a deeper flush upon her cheeks. ‘“ Let me be 
a poetess like Sappho, and I would, like her, joyfully leap 
from the rocks into the sea. Oh, there are yet poetesses— 
Carlo has told me of them. All Rome now worships the 
great improvisatrice, Corilla. I should like to know her, 
Paulo, only to adore her, only to see her in her splendor 
‘and her beauty !” 

“Tf you wish it, you shall see her,” said Paulo. 

“ Ah, I shall see her then!” shouted Natalie, and, as if 
to give expression to her inward joy, she touched the 
strings of her guitar, and in clear tones resounded a jubi- 
lant melody. Then she began to sing, at first in single 
isolated words and exclamations, which constantly swelled 
into more powerful, animated and blissful tones, and finally 
flowed into a regular dithyramb. It was a song of jubilee, 
a sigh of innocence and happiness; she sang of God and 
the stars, of happy love, and of reuniting; of blossom, 
fragrance, and fanning zephyrs; and in unconscious, fore- 
boding pain, she sang of the sorrows of love, and the pangs 
of renunciation. 


THE CHARMED GARDEN. 921 


All Nature seemed listening to her charming song; no 
leaflet stirred, in low murmurs splashed the gaves of the 
fountain by which she sat, and occasionally a nightingale 
wailed in unison with her hymn of rejoicing. The sun had 
descended to a point nearer the horizon, and bordered it 
with moving purple clouds. Natalie, suddenly interrupting 
her song, pointed with her rosy fingers to the heavens. 

- “ How beautiful it is, Paulo!” said she. 

He, however, saw nothing but her face, illuminated by 
the evening glow. 

“ How beautiful art thou!” he whispered low, pressing 
her head to his bosom. 

Then both were silent, looking, lost in sweetest dreams, 
upon the surrounding landscape, which, as if in a silence of 
adoration, seemed to listen for the parting salutation of the 
god of day. A nightingale suddenly came and perched 
upon the myrtle-bush under which Natalie and her friend 
were reposing. Soon she began to sing, now in complain- 
ing, now in exulting tones, now tenderly soft, now in joyful 
trumpet-blasts; and the night-wind that now arose rustled 
in organ-tones among the cypress and olive trees. 

Natalie clung closer to her friend’s side. 

“T would now gladly die,” said she. 

“ Already die!” whispered he. ‘“ Die before you have 
lived, Natalie f” 

Then they were again silent, the wind rustled in the 
trees, the fountains murmured, the birds sang, and in gol- 
den light lay the moon over this paradise of two happy 
beings. 

But what is that which is rustling in the pines close to 


222 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


the wall—what is that looking out with flashing eyes and a. 
poisonous glance? Is it the serpent already come to expel 
these happy beings from their paradise ? 

They see nothing, they hear nothing, they are both 
dreaming, so sure do they feel of their happiness. 

But there is a continued rustling. It is unnatural! It. 
resembles not the rustling of the evening wind! It is not 
the rustling of a bird, balancing itself upon the branch of 
the tree! What, then, is it? 

An opening is made in the foliage, and it is the arm of 
a man that makes it. Upon the wall is to be seen the form 
of a man, and near him slowly rises a second form. Cau- 
tiously he glances around, and then makes a scornful 
grimace, while his eyes shine like those of a hyena. He has. 
_ discovered the two sitting together in happy security, and 
enjoying the tranquil beauty of the evening in silent beati- 
tude. He has seen them, and points toward them with his: 
finger, while, at the same time, he lightly touches the arm 
of the other man, who has boldly swung himself up on the: 
wall. ‘The glance of the latter follows the direction in 
_ which the other points; he also now sees the reposing pair, 
and over his features also flits an unnatural smile. He 
suddenly fumbles in his bosom, and when his hand is with- 
drawn a small dagger glistens in it. With a bold leap, the 
man is already on the point of springing from the wall into. 
the garden. The other holds him back, and makes a 
threatening counter-movement. He, it seems, is the com- 
mander, and uses his power with an indignant negative 
shake of the head; his commanding glance seems to say = 
*¢ Be silent, and observe!” 


THE LETTERS. 293 


Staring and immovably their eyes were now fixed upon 
- the silent pair sitting in the bright moonlight which sur- 
rounded them as with a glory. One of the men still holds 
the dagger in his hand, and with a powerful arm the other 
holds him in check. Then they whisper low together—they 
seem to be consulting as to what is to be done. The man 
with the dagger seems to yield to the arguments or persua- 
sions of the other. He nods his consent. The first dis- 
appears behind the wall, and the armed one slowly follows 
him. Yet once again he glances over the wall, raising his 
arm and shaking his dagger toward Natalie and her friend. 
Then he disappeared, and all was again peaceful and still in 
this smiling paradise ! 

Was it, perhaps, only an‘illusive dream that bantered us, 
only a fata morgana formed by the moonbeams? Or does 
the serpent of evil really lurk about this paradise? Will 
destruction find its way into this charmed garden? Ah, no 
solitude and no wall can afford protection against misfor- 
tune! It creeps through the strongest lock, and over the 
highest wall; and while we think ourselves safe, it is already 
there, close to us, and nearly ready to swallow us up. 


CHAPTER XXIV. 


THE LETTERS. 


Ir was suddenly lively in the garden. Cecil, Paulo’s old 
servant, approached from the house, with a lantern in his 
hand. 


224 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


He comes down the alley with hasty steps, and with an 
anxious countenance approaches his master. 

“ What is it, Cecil?” 

“Two letters, sir, that have just arrived. One comes 
from the hotel of the Russian legation, and the other from 
that of the Lord-Cardinal Bernis.” 

Paulo shuddered slightly, and his hand involuntarily 
grasped after the first letter, but he suddenly constrained 
himself, and his glance fell upon Natalie, whose eyes were 
fixed with curiosity upon the two letters. 

“ We will first see what the good Cardinal Bernis writes 
us!” said Count Paulo, placing the Russian letter in his 
pocket with apparent indifference. 

“ Bernis?” asked Natalie. “Is not that the French Car- 
dinal, who is at the same time a poet, and whom the pope, 
the great Ganganelli, so dearly loves?” 

“The same,” said Paulo, “and besides, the same Cardinal 
Bernis whom I had months ago promised to allow the 
pleasure of making your acquaintance! He already knows 
you, Natalie, although he has never yet seen your fair face ; 
he knows you from what I have told him.” 

“ Oh, let us quickly see what the good cardinal writes!” 
exclaimed Natalie, clapping her hands with the impatience 
of a child. 

Count Paulo smilingly broke the seal and read the 
letter. 

“You are in truth a witch,” said he; “you must have 
some genius in your service, who listens to every wish you 
express, in order to fulfil it without delay! This letter 
contains an invitation from the cardinal. He gives a 


THE LETTERS. 995, 


great entertainment to-morrow, and begs of me that I 
will bring you to it. The improvisatrice Corilla will also 
be there!” 

“Qh, then I shall see her!” exclaimed the delighted 
young maiden. “At length I shall see a poetess! For 
we shall go to this entertainment, shall we not, Paulo?” 

The count thoughtfully cast down his eyes, and his hand 
involuntarily sought the letter in his pocket. An expres- 
sion of deep care and anxiety was visible on his features, 
and Cecil seemed to divine the thoughts of his master, for 
he also looked anxious, and a deep sigh escaped from his 
breast.—Natalie perceived nothing of all this! She was 
wholly occupied by the thought of seeing Corilla, the great 
improvisatrice, of whom Carlo, Natalie’s music-teacher, 
had told her so much, and whose fame was sounded by 
children and adults in all the streets of Rome. 

“We go to this festival, do we not, Paulo?” repeated 
she, as the count still continued silent. 

Recovering from his abstraction, he said: “ Yes, we will 
go! Itis time that my Natalie was introduced into this 
circle of influential Romans, that she may gain friends 
among people of importance, who may watch over and 
protect her when I no longer can!” 

“You will, then, leave me?” cried the young maiden, 
turning pale and anxiously grasping the count’s arm. 
“No, Paulo, you cannot do that! Would you leave me 
because I, a foolish child, desired to go to this festival, and 
was no longer contented with our dear and beautiful soli- 
tude? That was wrong in me, Paulo, as I now plainly see, 
and I desire it no longer! Oh, we will prepare other pleas- 


226 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


ures for ourselves here in our delightful paradise. You 
have often called me a poetess, and I will now believe I am, 
and no longer wish to see another. I will suffice for my- 
self! Come, I will immediately sing you a song, a festival 
song, my friend!” 

And taking her guitar, Natalie struck some joyous ac- 
cords; but Count Paulo lightly laid his hands upon the 
strings so as to silence them, and drawing the tips of her 
fingers to his lips, with a slight shaking of his head, he 
said: “ Not now, my charming poetess, 1 am not worthy 
of hearing you.” 

“‘ And it is late,” added Cecil, coming as it were to the 
aid of his master. 

The count rose. “ Yes, you are right—it is late,” said 
he, “and I must not longer keep Natalie from her slumber. 
Come, my sweet child, you must retire; you must sleep, 
that your brow may beam with blooming freshness to- 
morrow!” 

Natalie made no answer; with a light sigh she mechan- 
ically took the count’s offered arm. 

Cecil preceded them with the lantern in hishand. Thus 
they proceeded up the alley leading to the villa, all three 
silent and thoughtful. The sky had become obscured, a 
black cloud intercepted the light of the moon, and Natalie’s 
charmed garden was suddenly wrapped in gloom. 

A cold shudder ran through her delicate frame. 

“ A feeling of anxiety has come over me!” she whis- 
pered, clinging closer to the count’s side. 

“Poor child!” said the count. “Are you already op- 
pressed with fear?” 


THE LETTERS. 927 


“What if the wall should give way, and bad people 
should intrude into our garden! Ah, Marianne says that 
misfortune lurks everywhere in the world, lying in ambush 
for those who think themselves safe, destroying their happi- 
ness, and making them wholly miserable; and people only 
laugh and rejoice that another man’s hopes have been 
wrecked! Ah, and I have felt so secure in my happiness! 
If misfortune should now actually come—if these walls 
should prove not high enough to keep it off! Ah, Paulo, 
‘protect me from lurking misfortune!” 

They had now arrived at the door of the villa. Paulo 
pressed the trembling young maiden with paternal tender- 
ness to his breast, and, lightly touching her forehead with 
his lips, he said: “ Good-night, my love! Sleep gently, 
and be not anxious! So long as I live, misfortune shall 
never approach you! Rest assured of that!” 

Thus speaking, he led her into the house, where Mari- 
anne was waiting to accompany her to her chamber. 

Natalie silently followed her, but before entering her 
room she once more turned, and, pressing her fingers to her 
lips, wafted kisses in the air toward her friend. 

* Good-night, Paulo!” 

“ Good-night, Natalie!” 

The door closed behind her, and the smile instantly 
vanished from Paulo’s lips. With impetuous haste, beck- 
oning Cecil to follow him, he strode through the corridor 
leading to his own apartments. 

When he had arrived there, and Cecil had closed the 
door behind him, the count with a deep sigh threw himself 
- apon a chair, whilst Cecil silently busied himself in light- 


998 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


ing the wax-candles and placing them upon the table beside 
his master. ‘ 

“Will not your grace now read the other letter?” he 
timidly asked, as Count Paulo still remained buried in 
his silent reflections. 

“Oh, this unblessed letter!” exclaimed the count, with 
ashudder. “I tell you, Cecil, I feel that it contains mis- 
fortune. It has lain with a heavy weight like a nightmare 
upon my breast and I yet felt not the strength in me to 
draw it forth and read it in Natalie’s presence!” 

“That was well!” said Cecil, “and it was for that 
reason that I told you in advance that the letter was 
from Russia, that you might be on your guard. But 
now, Sir Count, we are alone, and now you can read 
it!” : 

“ Yes, away with this childish fear!” cried the count, 
with resolution. ‘I will be a man, Cecil, and whatever this: 
letter may contain, I will bear it like a man!” 

Drawing forth the letter, he broke the seal with a 
trembling hand, and threw the cover across the room. 
Then unfolding the letter, he read. Behind him stood 
Cecil, involuntarily trembling with anxious expectation. 

The letter fell from the count’s hands, and a deadly 
paleness spread over his face, which bore the expression of 
utter despair. 

“ Oh, my prophetic soul!” he sighed. 

“Your presentiment is then fulfilled!” anxiously asked 
Cecil. 

“Yes, it is fulfilled! My property is sequestrated ; they 
refuse to send me the money I required; they command my 


THE LETTERS. 229 


immediate return to Russia, as my congé has expired and 
my respite is at an end!” 

“ And you are lost, my lord, if you do not obey this 
command!” said Cecil. 

“ And Natalie?” reproachfully asked the count. “Can 
I, dare I leave her?” 

“ She is much safer without than with you! They may 
not yet suspect who she is! It is very possible that it in 
reality only is because your leave of absence has expired, as 
the laws of Russia require that every absentee should return 
to his country once in every four years. Fulfill, therefore, 
this hard duty. Pretend to suppose that your recall is for 
no other reason than the renewal of your passport, and the 
giving you an opportunity to pay your homage to the em- 
press. Appear innocent and unconcerned, and all may yet 
go well!” 

“No,” gloomily replied the count, “nothing will go 
well any more! The whole future stands before me in 
clear and distincts traits—a future full of shame and hor- 
ror! Oh, would it not be better to flee from that future 
and seek in some remote and hidden valley a place where, 
perhaps, misfortune cannot reach, nor destruction over- 
take us!” 

“How?” reproachfully asked Cecil. “Is it Count 
Paulo who speaks thus? Is it the pupil whom I taught to 
defy misfortune and rise superior to disaster with cour- 
ageous self-confidence ? Is it the son of my heart for whom 
I have left all, sacrificed all, for whom I have offered up my 
fatherland, my freedom, and my independence; whom I 
shall love until my last breath? Paulo, pluck up a good 


230 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


heart, my son! You have proposed to yourself a great end, 
which was only to be reached by thorny and dangerous | 
paths; will you now stop at the first cross-road and return 
upon your steps, instead of pressing forward sword in hand? 
No, no, I know you better, my son; this momentary hesi- 
tation will pass away, and you will again be great and 
strong for the struggle and the victory!” 

With a faint smile Count Paulo gave him his hand. 
“You know not, my friend, how great is the sacrifice you 
demand of me!” said he, in a subdued tone. “I must 
leave Natalie. I must never see her more, never more 
draw consolation from her glance, nor hope from her 
. charming smile! Oh, Cecil, you have no idea of what 
Natalie is to me; you know not that I—” 

“T know,” interposed Cecil, solemnly, “I know that 
you have sworn upon the holy book to protect her with 
your life from every injury; I know that you have sworn 
never to give rest to yourself until you have reinstated her 
in her inherited rights, and that, until then, she shall be 
sacred to you, sacred as a sister, sacred as a daughter whose 
honor you will protect and defend against every outrage, 
against even every sinful thought. That have you sworn, 
and I know you will hold your word sacred and keep your 
oath!” 

Count Paulo dropped his head upon his breast and 
sighed deeply. 

“ T must therefore leave her!” said he. 

“ Your own welfare demands it.” 

“ But how is she to live during our absence? Our 
money will not suffice to the end. Alas! we had so surely 


THE LETTERS. 231 


calculated on this remittance from my estates, and now 
it fails us!”’ 

‘¢We will sell that costly ornament of brilliants which 
you had destined as a present for Natalie on her seven- 
teenth birthday.”’ 

‘¢Ah,’’ sighed the count, ‘‘ you have a means for the 
removal of every obstacle. I must therefore go!” 

‘¢And I go with you,’’ said Cecil. I would, if it 
must be so, be able to die for you! ”’ 

‘¢They will destroy all three of us!’ said the count. 
"Believe me, the knife is already sharpened for our 
throats! Believe also, Cecil, that I tremble not from fear 
of death. ButI fear for Natalie! Ah, Ialready seem to see 
the approach of her murderers, to see them seize her with 
their bloody hands, and I shall not be there to protect her!” 

While Count Paulo thus spoke, with a sad, fore- 
boding soul, those two mysterious men, who had so 
threateningly watched and listened to Natalie and her 
friend, still remained under the wall. 

The one still held the dagger in his hand, and was 
unquietly walking back and forth near his companion, 
who had calmly thrown himself upon the ground. 

‘*You did wrong to hinder me, Beppo,’’ he angrily 
said. ‘‘It would have been best to have finished them at 
once. The occasion could not have been more favorable— 
the solitary garden, the nightly stillness and obscurity. 
Ah, one blow would have done the business! ”’ 

** Well, and whatif the gentleman who sat near her had 
seized you before the blow was struck? How then? ’’ asked 
the other. ‘‘ You are yet but a novice and a bungler, friend 


932 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


Giuseppo. You yet lack discretion, the tranquil glance, the 
sure hand! You always suffer yourself to become excited, 
which is unartistic and even dangerous. We went out to- 
day only to obtain information; we were only to discover 
and observe the signora, and perhaps to watch for an oppor- 
tunity. But to fall upon her in this garden would have 
been the extreme of stupidity, for we had all the servants 
and the hounds against us, and it is one of the first princi- 
ples of our profession to put others in danger, but never to 
incur it ourselves.” 

“Wherefore, then, have we come here?” cried Guiseppo, 
with vehemence. 

“'T'o see her and know her, that we may surely recog- 
nize her again when the right hour comes. And that hour 
will come—I will answer for it. Did not the signora tell 
us that this lady would probably attend the festival of 
Cardinal Bernis ?” 

“‘ She said so.” 

“ Well, and we have come here that we might see and 
know her in advance. She is very beautiful, and a truly re- 
spectable person, Giuseppo. Iam pleased with the idea of 
this festival of the French cardinal. I think it will afford 
much business in our line.” 


DIPLOMATIC QUARRELS. 233 


CHAPTER XXV. 


DIPLOMATIC QUARRELS. 


In the palace of the French ambassador at Rome, Car- 
dinal Bernis, there was an unusually busy movement to-day. 
From the kitchen-boys to the major-domo, all were ina 
most lively motion, in the most passionate activity. For 
this morning, while taking his chocolate, the cardinal had 
sent for his major-domo, and, quite contrary to the usual 
joviality of his manner, had very seriously and solemnly 
said to him: “ Signor Brunelli, I to-day intrust you with a 
very important and responsible duty, that of making as 
splendid as possible the grand festival we are three days 
hence to give in honor of the Archduke Ferdinand. No 
pains must be spared, nothing must be wanting; the most 
luxurious richness, the most tasteful decoration, the most 
extravagant splendor must be exhibited. For this enter- 
tainment must excite the attention not only of Rome, but 
of all Europe; it must become the subject of conversation 
at all the courts, and, above all, it must cause the despair of 
all present ambassadorial housekeeping. I have very im- 
portant diplomatic reasons for this. All Europe shall see 
how devoted France is to the empire of Austria, and what a 
good understanding subsists between the two courts. 
Therefore, Signor Brunelli, strain your inventive head, that 
it may on this occasion hit upon whatever is most distin- 
guished and pre-eminent, for this must be an entertainment 
never before equalled. That is what I expect, what I de- 
mand of Ss and if you satisfy my demands, it will give 


234. | THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


me pleasure to reward your zeal by a present of a hun- 
dred ducats.”’ 

Thus with solemn dignity spoke the cardinal, while 
sipping his chocolate; and Signor Brunelli had pledged 
himself by a solemn oath punctually to fulfil his master’s 
commands, and to astonish Rome with an entertainment 
such as had never been recorded in the annals of diplo- 
matic history. 

With a proud step had Brunelli gone to his own pri- 
vate cabinet, where, having shut himself up, he had de- 
voted several hours to serious meditation upon the deep 
plans presenting themselves to hismind. But Signor Bru- 
nelli had, in fact, a very experienced and inventive head, 
and the cardinal acted wisely in confiding in his major- 
domo and leaving to him the ordering of the entertainment. 

He had now, with the sharp glance of a military com- 
mander, arranged his plan of battle, and felt perfectly 
sure of victory. He therefore rang for a servant, and 
commanded the attendance of the chief cook in the cab- 
inet of the major-domo. Then with a gentlemanlike 
listlessness he threw himself upon a divan and began to 
sip his coffee with the exact dignified deportment that 
had been displayed by his excellency the cardinal. 

‘¢ Signor Gianettino,’’ said he, to the entering cook, ‘‘I 
propose honoring you to-day with a very important and 
significant affair. I wish, on the day after to-morrow, to 
prepare an entertainment which in splendor and magnifi- 
cence shall surpass anything hitherto seen. You know that 
the major-domos of the other diplomatists have become my 
irreconcilable enemies through envy ; they cannot forgive 


DIPLOMATIC QUARRELS. 93%, 


me for having more inventive faculties and better taste 
than any of them! We must bring these major-domos to 
despair, and with a gnashing of teeth they shall acknowl- 
edge that in all things 1am their master. You, however, 
must aid me in this great work; in your hands, Signor 
Gianettino, lies a considerable part of my triumph and my 
laurels. For what does it help me, if the arrangements 
and decorations, if the whole establishment, are excellent, 
should there be a failure in the highest and most sublime 
part of the entertainment—in the food. The food, my 
dear sir, and a well-ordered table, is the gist of a festival, 
and should there be the least failure in that, the whole is 
profaned and desecrated, and must be covered with a 
mourning-veil. Take my words to heart, signor; let us 
have a table covered with food the mere odor of which shall 
set our first gourmets in ecstatic astonishment, while its 
judicious arrangement will give pleasure to the poetic 
mind! This is what I expect of you, and if you succeed 
in satisfying my requirements, I am ready to reward your 
exertions with fifty bottles of our best French wines.” 
Signor Gianettino returned his thanks with a pleasant, 
thoughtful smile, and with a majestic step repaired to his 
boudoir, where he was seen for a long time, walking back 
and forth in deep thought and with a wrinkled brow. 
Then, stepping to his writing-table, he sketched the plan 
of this inordinately great dinner, at first slowly and thought- 
fully, and then with constantly more and more fire and 
enthusiasm, carried away by the greatness of the occasion, 


and animated by the importance of his mission and his 
calling. 


236 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


Then, throwing aside the pen, and exhausted by so great 
an effort, he gently glided down upon the divan, at the 
same time ringing for a servant whom he directed to bring 
his breakfast and afterward to summon all the cooks and 
scullions to his cabinet. He then stretched himself with 
eminent grace upon the divan, as he had seen the major- 
domo do; with a serious thoughtfulness he sipped the 
glass of Malvoisie the servant had brought him, with 
sundry pdtés and rare entremets. 

And they came, the cooks and scullions, they came in 
their white jackets, with their white aprons and snow-white 
caps; they came in solemn silence, fully impressed with the 
importance of the moment. 

“ Signors,” said the chief cook, “it is on a beautiful and 
sublime affair that I have assembled you here to-day. It 
concerns an increase of the fame and triumphs we have so 
many times gained over our diplomatic rivals, and an in- 
crease of the laurels we have won in the sacred realms of 
our art! I propose to prepare a banquet for to-morrow, 
and for that I require your support and aid, gentlemen. 
For what is the use of ever so good a plan of battle of a 
commander-in-chief, if his troops fail in courage and skill 
to carry out the plan of their general? Gentlemen, I doubt 
not your courage or skill! You will contend for the sake 
of the fame we have acquired and hitherto enjoyed without 
dispute, for the sake of the fame which the French cuisine 
has enjoyed for centuries,and which must be preserved un- 
til the end of all things! You will stand by me, gentlemen, 
‘in the praiseworthy effort to acquire new glory for France, 
by showing these little Austrian princes and these gentle- 


DIPLOMATIC QUARRELS. 937 


men diplomatists what wonderful things the French art of 
cookery can bring to pass. The plan is devised and 
sketched, and all that is now required is its execution. If 
this great work succeeds, then, gentlemen, you may feel 
assured of my eternal gratitude—a gratitude which I will 
prove to you by leaving all the remains of the dinner to 
your free use and sole benefit! Here is the plan, hasten to 
the work; I have assigned to each one the part he is to 
take in its accomplishment. Hasten, therefore! I, however, 
by way of exception, will myself go to the market to-day and 
make the necessary purchases. Onsuch an important occa- 
sion, no one, however highly placed, must decline labor and 
the faithful performance of duty. I go, therefore, and six 
of the kitchen-boys may follow me with their baskets.” 

Thus speaking, the chief cook, Signor Gianettino, took 
his hat and gold-headed cane to go to the market. Six 
kitchen-boys, armed with large baskets, followed him at a 
respectful distance. 

At the great vegetable and fish-market of Rome there 
was to-day a very unusual and extraordinary life and move- 
ment. There was a crowd and tumult, a roaring and 
screaming, a shouting and laughing, such as had not been 
heard for a long time. It was partly in consequence of the 
fact that the whole diplomatic corps had been for some days 
agitated with preparations for entertainments in honor of 
the Archduke Ferdinand, who had come to Rome to see the 
wonders of the holy city, and who could hardly find time 
and leisure for the festivities offered him. But for the 
tradesmen and dealers, for the country people in the vicin- 
ity of Rome, this presence of the Austrian prince was a 


238 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


happy circumstance; for these banquets and festivals scat- 
tered money among the people, and the dealers and honest 
country people could fearlessly raise their prices, as they 
were sure of a sale for their commodities. The cooks and 


servants of the diplomatists and cardinals were seen running - 


hither and thither in busy haste, everywhere selecting the 
best, everywhere buying and cheapening. 

But in one place in the market there was to-day an 
especial liveliness and activity among the crowd, and to that 
spot Signor Gianettino bent his steps. He had seen the 
cook of the Spanish ambassador, the Duke of Grimaldi, 
among those collected there, and as this cook was one of his. 
bitterest enemies and opponents, Signor Gianettino re- 
solved to watch him, and, if possible, to play him a trick. 
He therefore cautiously mingled with the crowd, and made 
a sign to his followers to keep at a distance from him. 

It was certainly a very important affair with which the 
Spanish cook Don Bempo was occupied, as it concerned the 
purchase of a fish that a countryman had brought to the 
city, of such a monstrous size and weight that the like had 
never been seen there. It was the most remarkable specimen 
with which the Roman fish-market had ever been honored. 
But the lucky fisherman was fully aware of the extraordi- 
nary beauty of his fish, and in his arrogant pride demanded 
twenty ducats for it. 

That was what troubled Don Bempo. Twenty ducats 
for one single fish, and the major-domo of the Spanish am- 
bassador had urged upon him the most stringent economy ; 
but he had, indeed, at the same time urged upon him to 
: provide everything as splendid as possible for the banquet 


DIPLOMATIC QUARRELS. 239 


which the Duke of Grimaldi was to give in honor of the 
Archduke Ferdinand ; indeed, he had with an anxious sigh 
commanded him to outdo if possible the next day’s feast of 
Cardinal Bernis, and to provide yet rarer and more costly 
viands than the French cook. 

That was what Don Bempo was now considering, and 
what made him waver in his first determination not to buy 
the fish. 

There was only this one gigantic fish in the market; 
and, if he bought it, Signor Gianettino, his enemy, of course 
could not possess it; the triumph of the day would then 
inure to the Spanish embassy, and Don Bempo would come 
off conqueror. That was indeed a very desirable object, 
but—twenty ducats was still an enormous price, and was 
not at ail reconcilable with the recommended economy. 

At any rate he dared not buy the fish without first con- 
sulting the major-domo of the duke. 

“ You will not, then, sell this fish for twelve ducats?™ 
asked Don Bempo, jast as Gianettino had unnoticedly ap- 
proached. “ Reflect, mar, twelve ducais are a fortune—it 
is a princely payment!” 

The fisherman contemptuously shook his head. “ Rather 
than sell it for twelve ducats I would eat it myself,” said he, 
“and invite my friends, these good Romans, as guests! 
Go, go, sublime Spanish Don, and buy gudgeons for your 
pair of miserable ducats! Such a fish as this is too dear for 
you ; you Spanish gentlemen should buy gudgeons!” 

“ Bravo! bravo!” cried the laughing spectators. ‘“ Gud- 
geons for the Spanish gentlemen with high-nosed faces and 
empty pockets!” 


240 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


Don Bempo blushed with anger and wounded pride, “T 
shall unquestionably buy this fish,” said he, “for nothing is 
too dear for my master when the honor of our nation is to 
be upheld. But you must allow me time to go home and 
get the money from the major-domo. Keep the fish, there- 
fore, so long, and I will return with the twenty ducats 
for it.” 

And majestically Don Bempo made himself a path 
through the crowd, which laughingly stepped aside for 
him, shouting: “ Gudgeons for the Spanish gentleman! 
Viva Don Bempo, who pays twenty ducats for a fish!” 

“‘ He will certainly not come back,” said the fisherman, 
shaking his head. 

** He goes to buy gudgeons ! ” cried another. 

“ What will you bet that he returns to buy the fish?” 
said a third. 

‘He will not. buy it!” interposed a fourth. “These 
Spaniards have no money; they are poor devils!” 

“Who dares say that?” shrieked another, and now sud- 
denly followed one of those quarrels which are so quickly 
excited on the least occasion among the passionate people 
of the south. There was much rage, abuse, and noise. 
How flashed the eyes, how shook the fists, what threats 
resounded there! 

** Peace, my dear friends, be quiet, I tell you!” cried the 
fisherman, with his stentorian voice. “See, there comes a 
new purchaser for my fish. Be quiet, and let us see how 
much France is disposed to offer us.” 

The disturbance subsided as suddenly as it had arisen, 
and all pressed nearer; all directed interrogating, curious, 


DIPLOMATIC QUARRELS, 9AT 


expectant glances at Signor Gianettino, who just at that 
moment approached with a proud and grave step, followed 
by the solemn train of six scullions with their baskets. 

No one had before remarked him in the crowd, for 
they had been all eyes and ears for Don Bempo, and 
hence every one supposed that he had only just then 
arrived. 

The shrewd chief cook also assumed the appearance of 
having only accidentally passed that way without the inten- 
tion of buying any thing. 

But he suddenly stopped before the great fish as if 
astonished at its enormous size, and seemed to view it with 
admiration and delight. 

“What a rare and splendid animal is this!” he finally 
exclaimed with animation. “Really, one must come to 
Rome to see such a wonder !” 

“That is understood!” exultingly cried the bystanders, 
who had a reverence for the fishes of Rome. 

“This isno niggard! He will not be so mean as to 
offer twelve ducats for such a miracle as this!” 

“Twelve ducats!” cried Gianettino, folding his hands. 
“ How can you think me so pitiful as to offer such a miser- 
able sum for so noble a fish. No, truly, he must have a 
bold forehead who would offer so little money for this 
splendid animal!” 

“Hear him! hear!” cried the people. “This is a 
learned man. He knows something of the value of rari- 
ties!” . 

“Viva! Long life to the French cook, i] grande minis- 
tro della cucina!” 


249 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


Gianettino bowed politely in response to the compliment, 
and then civilly asked the price of the fish. 

The fisherman stood there with an expression of regret- 
ful sadness upon his face. “I fear it will be of little use to 
name the price!” said he, “ the fish is as good as sold!” 

** Nevertheless, name the price!” 

“Twenty ducats!” 

“Twenty ducats!” exclaimed Gianettino, with an ex- 
pression of the liveliest astonishment. “You jest, my 
friend! How can such a splendid animal be possibly sold 
for twenty ducats ?” 

“ Hear! hear!” shouted the crowd. “He finds the 
price too low!” 

“ He is a real gentleman !” 

“ He will not buy gudgeons like the Spaniard !” 

“In earnest, friend, tell me the price of this fish!” said 
Gianettino. 

“T have demanded twenty ducats for it,” sadly’ re- 
sponded the fisherman, “and it is sold for that sum.” 

“Impossible! In that case it would not be lying here!” 
replied Gianettino. “Or has the man paid you the money, 
and now gone for a cart for the conveyance of the giant?” 

“T have not yet been paid.” 

“The purchaser, then, has given you earnest money?” 

“No, not even that. I have yet received nothing 
upon it.” 

“ And you can pretend that you have sold this fish,” 
cried Gianettino, “and that, too, for the ridiculously small 
sum of twenty ducats! Ah, you are a joker, my good man}; 
you wish to excite in me a desire for this rare specimen, 


DIPLOMATIC QUARRELS. _ 943 


and therefore you say it is sold. But how can a fish that 
yet lies exposed for sale, and for which no one has made 
you a suitable offer, be already sold?” 

And gravely approaching the giant of the waters, 
Gianettino laid his hand upon his head and solemnly said: 
“The fish is mine. I purchase it; you demand twenty 
ducats! But I shall give you what you ought to have, and 
what the creature is worth! I shall pay you six-and-thirty 
ducats for him !”* 

The crowd, which had maintained an anxious and 
breathless silence during this negotiation, now broke out 
with a loud and exulting shout. 

“That is a real nobleman!” 

“ Hvviva tl ministro della cucina! Il grande Gianet- 
tino!” 

“That is no parsimonious Spaniard! He isa French 
cavalier. He will buy no gudgeons, but will have the right 
Roman fish.” | 

“Gentlemen,” said Gianettino, modestly casting down 
his eyes, “I do not understand your praises, and it seems to 
me I only deal like a man of honor, as every one of you 
would do! This honest man taxes his wares too low; I 
give him what they are worth! That is all. If I acted 
otherwise I should not long remain in the service of the 
lofty and generous Cardinal Bernis! Justice and gener- 
osity, that is the first command of his excellency! ” 

“ Hyviva the French ambassador ! ” 

“ Praise and honor to Cardinal Bernis!” 


* Archenholz, “ England and Italy,” vol. iv., p. 217. 


944 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


And while the people were thus shouting, Gianettine 
from his well-filled purse paid down the six-and-thirty 
ducats upon the fisherman’s board. He then commanded 
his six attendant scullions to bear off the fish. 

It was, indeed, a heavy work to place the enormous 
animal upon their baskets, but the active Romans cheer- 
fully lent a hand, and when they had succeeded in the dif- 
ficult task, and the six youngsters bent under their heavy 
load, Signor Gianettino gravely put himself at the head 
of the train, and proudly gave the order: “ Forward to 
the kitchen of his excellency Cardinal Bernis !” 

At this moment a man was seen making his way through 
the crowd; thrusting right and left with his elbows, he in- 
cessantly pushed on, and, just as Signor Gianettino had 
fairly got his troop in motion, the man, who was no other 
than Don Bempo, succeeded in reaching the fisherman’s 
table. 

“Here, I bring you the twenty ducats,” he proudly called 
out. ‘They will no longer say that the Spaniards buy gud- 
geons. The fish is mine! There are your twenty ducats!” 

And, with a supercilious air, Don Bempo threw the 
money upon the table. 

But just as proudly did the fisherman push back the 
money. ‘“ The fish is sold!” said he. 

“Forward, march!” repeated Signor Gianettino his 
word of command. “Forward to the kitchen of his excel- 
lency Cardinal Bernis! ” 

And with solemn dignity the train began to move. 

Don Bempo with a cry of rage rushed upon the fish. 

“ This fish is mine,” he wildly cried, “I was the first to 


DIPLOMATIC QUARRELS. 945. 


offer its price, I offered twenty ducats, and only went home 
to get the money!” 

“ And I,” exclaimed Signor Gianettino, “I offered thirty- 
six ducats, and immediately paid the cash, as I always have 
money by me.” 

“ It is Signor Gianettino, the cook of the French ambas- 
sador, and I am ruined!” groaned Don Bempo, staggering 
back. 

“ Yes, it is the cook of his excellency the cardinal!” 
cried the crowd. 

“ And the cardinal is an honorable man!” 

“ He is no Spanish niggard ! ” 

“ He does not haggle for a giant fish; he pays more than 
is demanded ! ” 

“T hope,” said Signor Gianettino to Don Bempo, who 
still convulsively grasped the fish, “that you will now take 
your hands from my property and leave me to go my way 
without further hinderance. It is not noble to lay hands 
on the goods of another, Don Bempo, and this fish is 
mine !” 

“ But thisis contrary to all international law!” exclaimed 
the enraged Don Bempo. “ You forget, signor, that you 
insult my master, that you insult Spain, by withholding 
from me by main force what I have purchased in the name 
of Spain.” 

“France will never stand second to Spain!” proudly 
responded Gianettino, “and where Spain offers twenty 
ducats, France pays six-and-thirty !—Forward, my young- 
sters! To the kitchen of the French ambassador!” 

And ungently pushing back Don Bempo, Gianettino 


946 TAE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


solemnly marched through the crowd with his retinue, the 
people readily making a path for him and cheering him as 
he went. 

It was a brilliant triumph in the person of the chief 
cook of their ambassador, which the French celebrated to- 
day; it was a shameful defeat which Spain suffered to-day 
in the person of her ambassador’s chief cook. 

Proud and happy marched Signor Gianettino through 
the streets, accompanied by his gigantic fish, and followed 
by the shouts of a Roman mob. 

Humiliated, with eyes cast down, with rage in his heart 
sneaked Don Bempo toward the Spanish ambassador’s hotel, 
and long heard behind him the whistling, laughter, and cat- 
calls of the Roman people. 





CHAPTER XXVI. 


THE FISH FEUD. 


CARDINAL BERNIS was in his boudoir. Before him lay 
the list of those persons whom he had invited to his enter- 
tainment of the next day, and he saw with proud satisfac- 
tion that all had accepted his invitation. 

“JT shall, then, have a brilliant and stately society to 
meet this Austrian archduke,” said the well-contented car- 
dinal to himself. “The élite of the nobility, all the cardi- 
nals and ambassadors, will make their appearance, and Aus- 
tria will be compelled to acknowledge that France maintains 
the best understanding with all the European powers, and 


THE FISH FEUD. 947 


that she is not the less respected because the Marquise de 
Pompadour is in fact King of France.” 

“Ah, this good marquise,” continued the cardinal, 
stretching himself comfortably upon his lounge and tak- 
ing an open letter from the table, “this good marquise 
gives me in fact some cause for anxiety. She writes me 
here that France is in favor of the project of Portugal for 
the suppression of the order of the Jesuits, and I am so to 
inform the pope! This is a dangerous thing, marquise, and 
may possibly burn your tender fingers. The suppression of 
the Jesuits! Is not that to explode a powder-barrel in the 
midst of Europe, that may shatter all the states? No, no, 
it is foolhardiness, and I have not the courage to apply the 
match to this powder-barrel! I fear it may blow us all into 
the air.” 

And the cardinal began to read anew the letter of Ma- 
dame de Pompadour which a French courier had brought 
him a few hours before. 

“Ahem, that will be dangerous for the good father!” 
said he, shaking his head. “ Austria also agrees to this 
magnificent plan of the Portuguese Minister Pombal, and I 
am inclined to think that this Austrian archduke has come 
to Rome only for the purpose of bringing to the pope the 
consent of the Empress Maria Theresa! Ha, ha! how 
singular! their chaste and virtuous Maria Theresa and 
our good Pompadour are both agreed in this matter, and 
in taking this course are both acting against their own 
will. The women love the Jesuits, these good fathers 
who furnish them with an excuse for every weakness, and 
hold a little back door open for every sin. That is very 


948 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


convenient for these good women! Yes, yes, the women— 
I think I know them.” 

And, smiling, the cardinal sank deeper into himself, 
dreaming of past, of charming times, when he had not yet 
counted sixty-five years. He dreamed of Venice, and of a 
beautiful nun he had loved there, and who for him had 
often left her cloister in the night-time, and, warm and 
glowing with passion, had come to him. He dreamed of 
those heavenly hours, where all pleasure and all happiness 
had been compressed into one blessed intoxication of bliss, 
where the chaste priestess of the Church had for him 
changed into a sparkling priestess of joy! 

“ Yes, that was long ago!” murmured the cardinal, as at 
length he awoke from his blissful dreams of the past. 

“Those were beautiful times—I was then young and 
happy; I was then a man, and now—now am old; love has 
withered, and with it poesy! I am now nothing but a di- 
plomatist.” 

There was a low knock at the door. The cardinal has- 
tily but carefully returned the portrait of his beautiful nun 
to the secret drawer in his writing-table whence it had been 
taken, and bade the knocker to enter. 

It was Brunelli, the major-domo of the cardinal, who 
came with a proud step, and face beaming with joy, to make 
a report of his plans and preparations for the morrow’s en- 
tertainment. 

‘In the evening the park will be illuminated with many 
thousand lamps, which will outshine the sun, so that the 
guests will there wander in a sea of light,” said he, in clos- 


ing his report. 


THE FISH FEUD. 249 


The cardinal smiled, and with a stolen glance at the 
small box that contained the portrait of his beautiful nun, 
he said: “Spare some of the walks in the alleys from your 
sea of light, and leave them in a partial obscurity. A little 
duskiness is sometimes necessary for joy and happiness! 
But how is it with your carte du diner? What has Signor 
Gianettino to offer us? I hope he has something very 
choice, for you know the cardinals like a good table, and 
my friend Duke Grimaldi has a high opinion of our cui- 
sine.” 

“ Ah, the Spanish ambassador, your excellency?” ex- 
claimed Brunelli, contemptuously. ‘The Spanish ambas- 
sador knows nothing of the art of cookery, or he would not 
possibly be satisfied with his cook! He is a niggard, a poor 
fellow, of whom all Rome is speaking to-day, and laughing 
at him and his master, while they are praising you to the 
skies!” 

And Signor Brunelli related to his listening master the 
whole story of the gigantic fish, and of the humiliation of 
the Spanish cook. 

The cardinal listened with attention, and a dark cloud 
gradually gathered upon his thoughtful brow. 

“That is a very unfortunate occurrence,” said he, shak- 
ing his head, as Brunelli ended. 

“ But at least it was an occurrence in which France tri- 
umphed, your excellency,” responded Brunelli. 

“T much fear the Duke of Grimaldi will do as you have 
done,” said the cardinal; “he will confound my cook with 
France, and in his cook see all Spain insulted.” 


“Then your excellency is not satisfied ?” asked Brunelli, 
17 


950 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


with consternation. “The whole palace is full of jubila. 
tion ; all the servants and lackeys and even the secretary of 
the legation are delighted with this divine affair!” 

The cardinal paid no attention to these panegyrics of 
his major-domo, but thoughtfully paced the room with long 
strides. 

“And you think Gianettino had the right of it?” at 
length he asked. 

“ He was entirely in the right, your excellency. Nothing 
had been paid for the fish, and Gianettino’s right to pur- 
chase was perfect, and nobody could dispute it!” 

“Well, when we are in the right, we must maintain our 
right,” said the cardinal, after a pause, “and as the affair 
is known to all Rome, it must be fought through with éclat ! 
The fish, in all its pride of greatness shall grace our table 
to-morrow !” 

“We have no dish of sufficient size in which to serve 
vt 

“Then let a new one be made,” laughed the cardinal. 
*‘ Take the measure of this Goliath, and hasten to the silver- 
smith, that he may make a silver dish of the proper size. 
But see that it is completed by to-morrow morning, and 
that it is richly ornamented. If Rome has heard of the 
fish, so also must it hear of the dish. Hasten, therefore, 
Signor Brunelli, and see that all is done as I have or- 
dered !” 

“This is, in fact, a very diverting story,” said the car- 
dinal, langhing, when he was again alone. ‘ We have here 
a monster fish which will probably swallow my friendship 
with the Duke of Grimaldi! Well, we shall see!” 


THE FISH FEUD. 951 


The cardinal then rang for his body-servant, whom he 
ordered to dress him. 

“ Court toilet?” asked the servant, astonished at being 
called to this service at so unusual an hour. 

* No, house toilet!” said the cardinal. “I shall soon 
receive visitors.” 

The shrewd cardinal had not deceived himself! Ina 
few minutes an equipage rolled into the court and the foot- 
man announced his highness the Spanish ambassador, the 
Duke of Grimaldi. 

“He is a thousand times welcome!” cried the cardinal, 
and as the door now opened and the Spanish duke entered, 
the cardinal advanced to receive him with open arms and a 
friendly smile. 

“‘ My dear, much-beloved friend, what a delightful sur- 
prise is this!” said the cardinal. 

But the duke observed neither the open arms nor the 
pleasant smile, nor yet the friendly welcome of the cardi- 
nal. He strode forward with a serious, majestic grandezza, 
and placing himself directly before the cardinal, he solemn- 
ly asked: “Know you of the outrage which a servant of 
your house has inflicted on mine?” 

“Of an outrage?” asked the cardinal, without embar- 
rassment. “I have been told that your cook had a dispute 
with mine, because mine had bought a fish that was too 
dear for yours. That is all I know.” 

“Then they have not told you,” thundered the duke, 
“that your servant, like an impudent street robber, has 
_ wrongfully seized my property. For that fish was mine, 
it belonged to the Spanish embassy, and therefore to 


252 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


Spain; and your servant has with outrageous insolence 
committed a trespass upon the property of a foreign 
power !” 

“Did this fish, then, actually belong to the Spanish 
crown?” asked Bernis. “Was it already paid for, and 
legally yours ?” 

“It was not paid for, but was ordered, and my servant 
had gone home for the money.” | 

“ As long as it was not paid for, no one could have any 
claim upon it.” 

“You are, then, disposed to dispute the fish with me?” 
cried the duke. 

“ Should I dispute it,” smilingly responded the cardinal, 
“that would be equivalent to a recognition of your right 
to it, which I have no idea of making. Besides, my friend, 
what does this quarrel of our cooks concern us, and what 
has Spain and France to do with these disputes of our sery- 
ants? They may fight out their own quarrels with each 
other; let us give them leave to do so, and if they give 
each other bloody heads, very well, we will bind them up, 


that is all!” 
“You take the affair with your usual practical indiffer- 


ence,” said the duke with bitterness, “and I can only regret 
being compelled to look at itin a different light. The ques- 
tion here is not of a difficulty between our servants, but of 
an insult which Spain has received from France in the face 
of all Rome. Yes, all Rome has witnessed this insult, and 
these miserable Romans have even dared to dishonor us with 
irony and satire, and to mock and deride Spain, while they 
overload you with their praises!” 


THE FISH FEUD. 253 


“The good Romans, as you know, are like children. 
This contest of our. cooks has delighted them, and they 
shouted a viva to the conqueror. But I beg you not to for- 
get that I have nothing at all to do with the victories of my 
cook.” 

“ But I have something to do with the defeats of mine! 
Whoever insults my servant insults me; and whoever in- 
sults me, insults the kingdom I represent—insults Spain ! 
It is therefore in the name of Spain that I come to demand 
satisfaction. Spain has a right to this fish! I demand my 
right, I demand the surrender of the fish!” 

“Tf you take this matter in earnest,” said the cardinal, 
“then am I sorry to be compelled also to be serious! If 
Spain can find offence in the fact that France has bought a 
fish which was too dear for the Spanish cook, I cannot see 
how I can here make satisfaction, as we cannot be taxed 
with any fault.” 

“You refuse me the fish, then?” exclaimed the duke, 
bursting with rage. 

“As you say that all Rome knows of this affair, and 
takes an interest in it, I cannot act otherwise. It must not 
have the appearance that France feels herself less great and 
powerful than Spain; that France pusillanimously yields 
when Spain makes an unjust demand !” 

“ That is to say, you wish to break off all friendly rela- 
tions with us?” 

“And can those relations be seriously endangered by 
this affair?” asked the cardinal, with vivacity. “Is it pos- 
sible that this trifling misunderstanding between two serv- 
ants can exercise an influence upon a long-cherished friend- 


254 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


ship and harmony of two powers whose relations, whether 
friendly or otherwise, may uphold or destroy the peace of 
Europe?” 

“ Honor is the first law of the Spaniard,” proudly re- 
sponded the duke, “and whoever wounds that can no 
longer be my friend! France has attacked the honor of 
Spain, and all Rome has chimed in with the insulting ac- 
clamations of France—all Rome knows the story of this 
fish!” 

“Then let us show to these silly Romans that we both 
look upon the whole affair merely as a jest. When you 
to-morrow laughingly eat of this fish, the good Romans 
will feel ashamed of themselves and their childish con- 
duct.” 

“You propose then, to-morrow, when the nobility of 
Rome, when all the diplomatists are assembled, to parade 
before them this fish, which to-day sets all tongues in mo- 
tion?” asked the duke, turning pale. | 

“The fish was bought for this dinner, and must be 
eaten! ” said the cardinal, laughing. 

“Then I regret that I cannot be present at this festi- 
val!” cried the duke, rising. “You cannot desire that I 
should be a witness to my own shame and your triumph. 
You are no Roman emperor, and I am no conquered hero 
compelled to appear in your triumphal train! I recall my 
consent, and shall not appear at your to-morrow’s festi- 
val!” 

*“ Reflect and consider this well!” said the cardinal, al- 
most sadly. “Ifyou fail to appear to-morrow, when the 
whole diplomacy are assembled at my house for an official 


THE FISH FEUD, 255 


dinner, that will signify not only that the duke breaks with 
his old friend the cardinal, but also that Spain wishes to dis- 
solve her friendly relations with France.” 

“ Let it be so considered!” said the duke. “ Better an 
open war than a clandestine defeat! Adieu, Sir Cardi- 
nal ! »” 

And the duke made for the door. But the cardinal held 
him back. ates 

“ Have you reflected upon the consequences?” he asked. 
“You know what important negotiations at this moment 
occupy the Catholic courts. Of the abolition of the great- 
est and most powerful of orders, of the extirpation of the 
Jesuits, is the question. The pope is favorable to this idea 
of the Portuguese minister, Pombal, but he desires the co- 
operation of the other Catholic courts. Austria gives her 
consent, as do Sardinia and all the other Italian states; 
only the court of Spain has declared itself the friend and 
defender of the Jesuits, and for your sake has France hith- 
erto remained passive on this most important question, and 
has affected not to hear the demands of her subjects; for 
your sake has France stifled her own convictions and joined 
in your support. Therefore, think well of what you are about 
to do! To break off your friendly relations with France, 
is to compel France to take sides against Spain; and if the 
powerful voice of France is heard against the Jesuits, the 
single voice of Spain will be powerless to uphold them.” 

“Well, then, let them go!” cried the duke. “ What 
care I for the Jesuits when the defence of our honor is con- 
cerned? Sir Cardinal, farewell; however France may de- 
cide, Spain will never submit to her arrogance!” 


256 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


The duke abruptly left the room, slamming the door 
after him. 

Cardinal Bernis saw his departure with an expression of 
sadness. | 

“And such are the friendships of man,” he murmured 
to himself; “the slightest offence is sufficient to destroy a 
friendship of many years. Well, we must reconcile our- 
selves to it,” he continued after a pause, “and, at all events, 
it has its very diverting side. For many months I have 
taken pains to support Grimaldi with the pope in his de- 
fence of the Jesuits, and now that celebrated order will be 
abolished because a French cook has bought a fish that was 
too dear for the Spanish cook! By what small influences 
are the destinies of mankind decided ! 

‘“ But now I have not a moment to lose,” continued the 
cardinal, rousing himself from his troubled thoughts. 
“Grimaldi has rendered it impossible for me longer to 
oppose the views of the Marquise de Pompadour; I must 
now give effect to the commands of my feminine sovereign, 
and announce to the pope the assent of France to his 
policy. To the pope, then, the letter of the marquise may 
make known the will of Louis!” 

The cardinal hastily donned his official costume, and 
ordered his carriage for a visit to the Vatican. 


POPE GANGANELLI (CLEMENT XIV). 257 


CHAPTER XXVII. 


POPE GANGANELLI (CLEMENT XIV). 


Two men were walking up and down in the garden of 
the Quirinal, engaged in a lively discourse. One of them 
was an old man of more than sixty years. Long white 
locks waved about his forehead, falling like a halo on both 
sides of his cheeks. An infinite mildness and clearness 
looked out from his dreamy eyes, and a smile of infinite 
kindness played about his mouth, but so full of sorrow and 
resignation that it filled one’s heart with sadness and his 
eyes with tears. His tall, herculean form was bent and 
shrunken ; age had broken it, but could not take away that 
noble and dignified expression which distinguished that old 
man and involuntarily impelled every one to reverence and 
a sort of adoration. To his friends and admirers this old 
man seemed a super-terrestrial being, and often in their 
enthusiasm they called him their Saviour, the again-visible 
Son of God! The old man would smile at this, and say: 
“You are right in one respect, I am indeed a son of God, 
as you all are, but when you compare me with our Saviour, 
it can only be to the crucified. I am, indeed, a crucified 
person like Him, and have suffered many torments. But I 
haye also overcome many.” 

And, when so speaking, there lay in his face an almost 
celestial clearness and joyfulness, which would impel one 
involuntarily to bow down before him, had he not been, as 
he was, the vicegerent of God upon earth, the Pope Gan- 


ganelli. 


258 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


The man who was now walking with him formed a 
singular contrast with the mild, reverence-commanding - 
appearance of the pope. He was a man of forty, witha 
wild, glowing-red face, whose eyes flashed with malice and 
rage, whose mouth gave evidence of sensuality and barbar- 
ity, and whose form was more appropriate for a Vulcan 
than a prince of the Church. And yet he was such, as was 
manifested by his dress, by the great cardinal’s hat over 
his shoulder, and by the flashing cross of brilliants upon 
his breast. This cardinal was very well known, and when- 
ever his name was mentioned it was with secret curses, with 
a sign of the cross, and a prayer to God for aid in avoiding 
him, the terror of Rome, the Cardinal Albani. 

Sighing and reluctantly had the pope finally resolved to 
have the cardinal near his person, that he might attempt 
by mild and gentle persuasion to soften his stubborn dis- 
position; but the cardinal had replied to all his gentle 
words only with a contemptuous shrug of the shoulders, 
with low murmured words, with a darkly clouded brow. 

“Tt is in no one’s power to change and make a new 
being of himself,” he finally said, in a harsh tone, as the 
pope continued his exhortations and representations. “ You, 
my blessed father, cannot convert yourself into a monster 
such as you describe me; and I, Cardinal Albani, cannot 
attain to the sublime godliness which we all admire in your 
holiness. Every one must walk in his own path, taking 
especial care not to disturb others in theirs.” 

“ But that is exactly what you do,” gently replied Gan- 
ganelli. “All the streets of Rome bear witness toit. Did 
you not yesterday, in one of these streets, with force and 


POPE GANGANELLI (CLEMENT XIV). 259 


arms rescue a bandit from the hands of justice, and with 
your murderous dagger take the life of the servant of the 
law ?” 

“They wanted to lead one of my servants to death, who 
had done nothing more than obey my commands,” vyehe- 
mently responded the cardinal. “I liberated him from 
their hands as was natural; and if some of the sdirri were 
killed in the encounter, that was their fault. Why did they 
not voluntarily give up their prisoner and then run away?” 

“ And was it really your command that this bandit ful- 
filled?” asked the pope, shuddering. “ You know he killed 
a young nobleman, the pride and hope of his family, and 
was caught in the act, which he did not attempt to deny?” 

“That young nobleman had mocked and made a laugh- 
ing-stock of me in a public company,” calmly replied the 
cardinal; “ hence it was natural that he must die. Revenge 
is the first duty of man, and whoever neglects to take it is 
dishonored !” 

“ And such men dare to call themselves Christians !” 
exclaimed Ganganelli, with uplifted arms—“ and such men 
call themselves priests of the religion of love!” 

“T am a priest of love!” said Albani. 

“But of what love?” responded the pope, with an ap- 
pearance of agitation—“ the priest of a wild, beastly pas- 
sion, of a rough animal inclination. You know nothing of 
the soft and silent love that ennobles the heart and 
strengthens it for holy resolutions ; which inculcates virtue 
and decency, and lifts up the eyes to heayen—of that love 
which is full of consolation and blessed hope, and desires 
nothing for itself.” 


260 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


“God save me from such a love!” said the cardinal, 
crossing himself. “ When I love, I desire much, and of 
virtue and perfection there is, thank God, no question.” 

“Repent, amend, Francesco,” said the pope. “I prom- 
ised your uncle, the very worthy Cardinal Alessandro 
Albani, once more to attempt the course of mildness, and 
exhort you to return to the path of virtue. Ah, could you 
have seen the poor old man, with tears streaming from his 
blind eyes—tears of sorrow for you, whom he called his lost 
son!” 

“My uncle did very wrong so to weep,” said the cardi- 
nal. “Blind as he was he yet kept a mistress.* How, 
then, can he wonder that I, who can see, kept several? 
Two eyes see more than none; that is natural!” 

“ But do you, then, so wholly forget your solemn oath 
of chastity and virtue?” excitedly exclaimed the pope. 
“‘ Look upon the cross that covers your breast, and fall upon 
your knees to implore the pardon of God.” 

“This cross was laid upon my breast when I was yet a 
boy,” gloomily responded the cardinal; “the fetters were 
attached to me before I had the strength to rend them; my 
will was not asked when this stone was laid upon my breast! © 
Now I ask not about your will when I seek, under this 
weight, to breathe freely asa man! And, thank God, this 
weight has not crushed my heart—my heart, that yet glows 
with youthful freshness, and in which love has found a 
lurking-hole which your cross cannot fill up. And in this 
lurking-hole now dwells a charming, a wonderful woman, 


* Joseph Gorani’s “Secret Memoirs of the Italian Courts,” vol. ii., 
p 181. 


POPE GANGANELLI (CLEMENT XIV). 261 


whom Rome calls the queen of song, and whom I call the 
queen of beauty and love! All the world adjudges her the 
crown of poesy, and only you refuse it to her.” 

“Again this old complaint!” said the pope, with a 
slight contraction of his brow. “ You again speak of her—’” 

“ Of Corilla,” interposed the cardinal—* yes, of Corilla I 
speak, of that heavenly woman whom all the world admires ; 
to whose beautiful verses philosophers and poets listen 
with breathless delight, and who well deserves that you 
should reward her as a queen by bestowing upon her the 
poetic crown !” 

“T crown a Corilla!” mockingly exclaimed the pope. 
** Shall a Corilla desecrate the spot hallowed by the feet of 
Tasso and Petrarch? No, I say, no; when art becomes the 
plaything of a courtesan, then may the sacred Muses veil 
their heads and mourn in silence, but they must not de- 
grade themselves by throwing away the crown which the 
best and noblest would give their heart’s blood to obtain. 
This Corilla may bribe you poor earthly fools with her 
smiles and amorous verses, but she will not be able to de- 
ceive the Muses!” 

“You refuse me, then, the crowning of the renowned 
improvisatrice Corilla? ” asked the cardinal, with painfully 
suppressed rage. 

“T refuse it!” 

“ And why, then, did you send for me?” exclaimed the 
cardinal with vehemence. ‘“ Was it merely to mock me?” 

“Tt was for the purpose of warning you, my son!” 
mildly responded the pope. “For even the greatest for- 
bearance must at length come to an end; and when I am 


962 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


compelled to forget that you are Alessandro Albani’s neph- 
ew, I shall then only have to remember that you are the 
criminal Francesco Albani, whom all the world condemns, 
and whomI must judge! Repent and reform, my son, while 
there is yet time; and, above all things, renounce this love, 
which heaps new disgrace upon your family and overwhelms 
your relatives with sorrow and anxiety!” 

* Renounce Corilla!” cried the cardinal. “I tell you I 
dove her, I adore her, this heavenly, beautiful woman! 
How can you ask me to renounce her?” 

“Nevertheless I do demand it,” said the pope with 
solemnity, “demand it in the name of your father, in the 
mame of God, against whose holy laws you have sinned— 
you, His consecrated priest.” 

“ But that is an impossibility!” sidaManntahe exclaimed 
Francesco. “One must bear a heart of stone in his bosom 
to require it; and that you can do so only proves that you 
have never known what it is to love!” 

“ And that I can do so should prove to you that I have 
indeed known it, my son!” sadly responded the pope. 

“Whoever has known love knows that there can be no 
renunciation !” | 

“And whoever has known love can renounce!” ex- 
claimed the pope, with animation. “ Listen to me, my son, 
and may the sad story of a short happiness and long expia- 
tion serve you as a warning example! You think I cannot 
have known love? Ah, I tell you I have experienced all its 
joys and all its sorrows—that in the intoxication of rapture 
I once forgot my vows, my duties, my holy resolutions, and, 
doubly criminal, I also taught her whom I loved to forget 


POPE GANGANELLI (CLEMENT XIV). 263 


her own sacred duties and consent to sin! Ah, you call me 
a saint, and yet I have been the most abject of sinners! 
Under this Franciscan vesture beat a tempestuous, fiery 
heart that derided God and His laws; a heart that would 
haye given my soul to the evil one, had he promised to give 
me in exchange the possession of my beloved! She was 
beautiful, and of a heavenly disposition; and hence, when 
she passed through the aisles of the church, with her slight 
fairy form, her angelic face veiled by her long dark locks, 
her eyes beaming with love and pleasure, a heavenly smile 
playing about her lips—ah, when she thus passed through 
the church, her feet scarcely touching the floor, then I, who 
awaited her in the confessional, felt myself nearly frantic 
with ecstasy, my brain turned, my eyes darkened, there was 
a buzzing in my ears, and I attempted to implore the aid 
and support of God.” 

“You should have appealed to Cupid!” said the cardi- 
nal, laughing. “In such a case aid could come only from 
the god of ancient Rome, not of the modern!” 

The old man noticed not his words. Wholly absorbed 
in his reminiscences, he listened only to the voice of his own 
breast, saw only the form of the beautiful woman he had 
once so dearly loved ! 

“ God listened not to my fervent prayers,” he continued, 
with a sigh, “or perhaps my stormily beating heart heard 
not the voice of God, because I listened only to her; be- 
cause with intoxicated senses I was listening to the modest, 
childishly pure confession which she, kneeling in the con- 
' fessional, was whispering in my ears; because I felt her 
breath upon my cheeks and in every trembling nerve of my 


964 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


being. And one day, overcome by his glowing passion, 
the monk so far forgot his sworn duty as to confess 
his immodest and insane love for the wife of another 
man!” 

“ Ah, she was, then, married ?” remarked the cardinal. 

“Yes, she was married; sold by her own parents, sacri- 
ficed at the shrine of mammon, married to a man whom she 
did not and could not love, and who pursued her with an 
insane jealousy. Ah, she suffered and suffered with the un- 
complaining calmness of an angel. And I, did I not also 
suffer? We wept together, we complained together, until 
our hearts at length forgot complaining, and an unspeak- 
able, a terrible happiness, made us forget our troubles. I 
had forgotten all—my God, my clerical vows; she also had 
forgotten all—her husband, her vow of fidelity; and if a 
thought of these things sometimes intruded upon our mo- 
ments of happiness, it only caused us to plunge into new 
delights, and to lull ourselves anew into a blessed forgetful- 
ness !” 

“ And the good, jealous husband remarked nothing?” 
asked the cardinal. 

“He remarked nothing! He loved me, he confided 
in me, he called me his friend; and when he was com- 
pelled to take a long journey, he confided to me his 
house and his wife, establishing me as the guard of her 
virtue!” 

The cardinal broke out into loud laughter. “These 
good husbands,” said he, “they are all alike to a hair. 
Every one has a friend in whom he confides, and it is that 
very friend who betrays him. They must all fulfil their 


POPE GANGANELLI (CLEMENT XIV). 265 


destinies, these good husbands! Relate further, holy fa- 
ther! Your story is very entertaining. I am curious to 
hear the end!” 

“The end was terrible, replete with horror and shame,” 
said the pope. “We lived blessed days, heavenly nights. 
Oh, we were so happy that we hardly had a thought for our 
criminality, but only for our love. One night there was a 
knocking at the closed door of the house, and we shudder- 
ingly recognized the voice of the husband demanding ad- 
mission.” 

‘And you were not at all in a situation to grant it to 
him,” laughingly interposed the cardinal. “He might, 
perhaps, have been not a little astonished, this good hus- 
band, that you watched by night as well as by day the tem- 
ple of his wedded happiness.” | 

“ With tears of anguish and terror she conjured me to 
fly, to save her from the derision of the world and the anger 
of her husband. She led me to a secret stairway, and I, 
like a madman pursued by the furies, was hastening to de- 
scend, when my foot slipped and I fell down the stairs with 
a loud clattering noise. I felt the blood oozing from my 
breast and pouring from my mouth in a warm stream—my 
limbs pained me frightfully—but I picked myself up and 
with extremest suffering fled to my cloister, when, having 
reached my cell, I fell senseless, A long illness now con- 
fined me to my bed and tortured my body with frightful 
pains; but far more frightful were the tortures of my soul, 
more frightful the voices that day and night whispered to 
me of my crime and guiltiness! My conscience was fully 
awakened ; *apoke to me in a voice of thunder, and like a 


966 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRKSS., 


worm I turned upon my bed of pain, imploring of God a 
little mercy for the torments that burned my brain! This 
time God permitted Himself to be found by me; I heard 
his voice, saying: ‘Go and repent, and thy sins shall be for- 
given thee! Shake off the sinfulness that weighs upon thy 
head, and peace will return to thy bosom.’ I heard this 
voice of God, and wept with repentant sorrow. I vowed to 
obey and reconcile myself to God by renouncing my love 
and never again seeing its object! It was a great sacrifice, 
but God demanded it, and I obeyed!” 

“ That is, this sickness had restored you from intoxica- 
tion to sobriety ; you were tired of your mistress!” 

“T had, perhaps, never loved her more warmly, more 
intensely, than in those dreadful hours when I was strug- 
gling with my poor tortured heart and imploring God for 
strength to renounce her and separate myself from her for- 
ever. But God was merciful and aided my weakness with 
His own strength. Letters came from her, and I had the 
cruel courage to read them ; I had condemned myself to do 
it as an expiation, and while I read her soft complainings, 
her love-sorrows, I felt in my heart the same sorrows, the 
same disconsolate wretchedness; tears streamed from my 
eyes, and I flayed my breast with my nails in utter despair! 
Ah, at such moments how often did I forget God and my re- 
pentance; how often did I press those letters to my lips 
and call my beloved by the tenderest names; my whole 
soul, my whole being flew to her, and, forgetting all, all, I 
wanted to rush to her presence, fall down at her feet, and 
be blessed only through her, even if my eternal salvation 
were thereby lost! But what was it, what then restrained 


POPE GANGANELLI (CLEMENT XIV), 267 


my feet, what suddenly arrested those words of insane pas- 
sion upon my lips and irresistibly drew me down upon my 
knees to pray? It was God, who then announced Himself 
to me—God, who called me to himself—God, who finally 
gave me strength to withstand my love and always leave 
her letters unanswered until they finally ceased to come— 
until her complaints, which, however, had consoled me, 
were no longer heard ! The sacrifice was made, God ac- 
cepted it, my sin was expiated, and I was glad, for my 
heart was forever broken, and never, since then, has a smile 
of happiness played upon my lips. But in my soul has it 
become tranquil and serene, God dwells there, and within 
me is a peace known only to those who have struggled and 
overcome, who have expiated their sins with a free will and 
flayed breast.” 

“ And your beloved, what became of her?” asked the 
cardinal. “Did she pardon your treason, and console her- 
self in the arms of another?” 

“Tn the arms of death!” said Ganganelli, with a low 
voice. “My silence and my apparent forgetfulness of her 
broke her heart; she died of grief, but she died like a saint, 
and her last words were: ‘ May God forgive him, as I dot 
I curse him not, but bless him, rather; for through him am 
I released from the burden of this life, and all sorrow is 
overcome!’ She therefore died in the belief of my unfaith- 
fulness; she did, indeed, pardon me, but yet she believed 
me a faithless betrayer! And the consciousness of this was 
to me a new torment and a penance which I shall suffer 
forever and ever! ‘This is the story of my love,” continued 
Ganganelli, after a short silence. “I have truly related it 


268 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


to you as it is.* May you, my son, learn from it that, when 
we wish to do right, we can always succeed, in spite of our 
own hearts and sinful natures, and that with God’s help we 
can overcome all and suffer all. You see that I have loved, 
and nevertheless had strength to renounce. But it was 
God who gave me this strength, God alone! Turn you, 
also, to God; pray to Him to destroy in you your sinful 
love; and, if you implore Him with the right words, and 
with the right fervor, then will God be near you with His 
strength, and in the pains of renunciation will He purify 
your soul, preparing it for virtue and all that is good!” 
“And do you call that virtue?” asked the cardinal. 
“May Heaven preserve me from so cruel a virtue! Do you 
call it serving God when this virtue makes you the murderer 
of your beloved, and, more savage than a wild beast, deaf 
to the amorous complaints of a woman whom you led into 
love and sin, whose virtue you sacrificed to your lust, and — 
whom you afterward deserted because, as you say, God 
called to yourself, but really only, because satiated, you no 
longer desired her. Your faithlessness cunningly clothes 
itself in the mantle of godliness, nothing further. No, no, 
holy father of Christendom, I envy you not this virtue 
which has made you the murderer of God’s noblest work. 
That is a sacrilege committed in the holy temple of nature. 
Go your way, and think yourself great in your bloodthirsty, 
murderous virtue! You will not convert me to it. Letme 
still remain a sinner—it at least will not lead me to murder 
the woman I love, and provide for her torment and suffer- 


* Joseph Gorani, “ Secret Memoirs,” vol. ii, p. 26. 


POPE GANGANELLI (CLEMENT XIV). 269 


ing, instead of the promised pleasure. Believe me, Corilla 
has never yet cursed me, nor have her fine eyes ever shed a 
tear of sorrow on my account. You have made your be- 
loved an unwilling saint and martyr—possibly that may 
have been very sublime, and the angels may have wept or 
rejoiced over it. I have lavished upon my beloved ones 
nothing but earthly happiness. I have not made them 
saints, but only happy children of this world; and even 
when they have ceased to love me, they have always con- 
tinued to call me their friend, and blessed me for making 
them rich and happy. You have set a crown of thorns 
upon the head of your beloved, I would bind a laurel-crown 
upon the beautiful brow of my Corilla, which will not 
wound her head, and will not cause her to die of grief. 
You are not willing to aid me in this, my work? You re- 
fuse me this laurel-wreath because you have only martyr- 
crowns to dispose of? Very well, holy father of Christen- 
dom, I will nevertheless compel you to comply with my 
wishes, and you shall have no peace in your holy city from 
my mad tricks until you promise me to crown the great im- 
provisatrice in the capitol. Until then, addio, holy father 
of Christendom. You will not see me again in the Vatican 
or Quirinal, but all Rome shall ring with news of me!” 

With a slight salutation, and without waiting for an 
answer from the pope, the cardinal departed with hasty 
steps, and soon his herculean form disappeared in the 
shadow of the pine and olive trees. But his loud and 
scornful laugh long resounded in the distance. 


270 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


CHAPTER XXVIII. 


THE POPE’S RECREATION HOUR. 


THE pope followed his retreating form with a glance of 
sadness and a shake of the head. 

“ He is past help,” murmured he; “he runs to his ruin, 
and the voice of warning is unheeded. But how, if he 
should happen to be right? How, if he with his worldly 
wisdom and his theory of earthly happiness, should be more 
conformable to the will of God than we with our virtue and 
our doctrine of renunciation? Ah, yes, the world is so 
beautiful, it seems made entirely for pleasure and enjoy- 
ment, and yet men wander through it with tearful eyes, dis- 
regarding its beauty, and refusing to share its pleasures. 
All, except man, is free on earth. He alone lies in con- 
straining bands, and his heart bleeds while all creation re- 
joices. No, no, that cannot be; every individual does what 
he can to render mankind free and happy, and I also will 
do my part. God has laid great power in my hand, and I 
will use it so long as it is mine.” 

Thus speaking, the pope left the garden, and hastened 
up to his study. 

“Signor Galiandro,” said he, to his private secretary, 
“did you not speak to me to-day of several petitions re- 
ceived, in which people begged for dispensations from monk 
and cloister vows?” 

Signor Galiandro smilingly rammaged among a mass of 
papers that covered the pope’s writing-table. 

“In the last four weeks some fifty such petitions have 


THE POPE’S RECREATION HOUR, 271 


been received. Since your holiness has released several 
monks and nuns from their vows, all these pious brides of 
Christ and these consecrated priests seem to have tired of 
their cloister life, and long to be out in the world again.” 

“ Whoever does not freely and willingly remain in the 
house of the Lord, we will not retain them,” said Ganganelli. 
* Compelled service of the Lord is no service, and the 
prayer of the lips without the concurrence of the heart is 
null! Give me all these petitions, that I may grant them! 
The love of the world is awakened in these monks and 
nuns, and we will give back to the world what belongs to 
the world. With their resisting and struggling hearts 
they will make but bad priests and nuns; perhaps it will 
be better for them to become founders of families. And 
they who honestly do their duty, equally serve God, 
whether they are in a cloister or in the bosoms of their 
families.” * . 

The pope seated himself at his writing-table, and after 
having carefully examined all the petitions for dispensa- 
tions, signed his consent, and smilingly handed them back 
to his secretary. 

“T hope we have here made some people happy,” said 
he, rising, “and therefore it may, perhaps, be allowed us 
also to be happy in our own way for a quarter of an 
hour.” 

He lightly touched the silver bell suspended over his 
writing-table, and at the immediately opened door appeared 
the pleasant and well-nourished face of brother Lorenzo, 


* Ganganelli’s own words.—See Gorani, vol. ii., p. 41. 


972 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


the Franciscan monk, who performed the whole service of 
the pope. 

“ Lorenzo,” said Ganganelli, with a smile, “let us go 
down into the poultry-yard. You must show me the young 
chickens of which you told me yesterday. And hear, would 
it be asking too much to beg of you to bring my dinner 
into the garden?” 

“T would that you could ask too much,” said brother 
Lorenzo, waddling after his master, who was descending 
the stairs leading to the court-yard. “I really wish, your 
holiness, that it were asking too much, for then your dinner 
would be at least a little more desirable and heavier to trans- 
port! Was such a thing ever heard of? the father of Chris- 
tianity keeps a table like that of a poorest begging monk, 
and is satisfied with milk, fruit, bread, and vegetables, 
while the fattest of capons and ducks are crammed in vain 
for him, and his cellar is replete with the most generous 


wines.” 

“ Well, well, scold not,” said Ganganelli, smiling; “ have 
we not for years felt ourselves well in the Franciscan cloister, 
it never once occurring to us to wish ourselves better off ? 
Why should I now quit the habits of years and accustom 
myself to other usages? When I was yet a Franciscan 
monk, I always had, thanks to our simple manner of living, 
a very healthy stomach, and would you have me spoil it 
now, merely because I have become pope? It has always 
remained the same human body, Lorenzo, and all the rest 
is only falsehood and fraud! How few years is it since you 
and I were in the cloister, and you served the poor Fran- 
ciscan monk as a lay brother! You then called me brother 


THE POPE’S RECREATION HOUR. 273 


Clement, and they all did the same, and now you no longer 
call me brother, but holy father! How can your brother of 
yesterday be your father of to-day? We are here alone, 
Lorenzo ; nobody sees or hears us. We would for once cease 
to be holy father, and for a quarter of an hour become again 
brother Clement.” 

“ Ahem! it was not so bad there,” simpered Lorenzo. 
“Tt was yet very pleasant in our dear cloister, and I often 
think, brother, that you were far happier then than now, 
when every one falls upon his knees to kiss your slipper. 
It must be very dull to be always holy, always so great and 
sublime, and always revered and adored i” 

“Therefore let us go to our ducks and hens,” said the 
pope. “The people have made a bugbear of me, before 
which they fall upon the earth. But the good animals, who 
understand nothing of these things, they cackle and grunt, 
and gabble at me, as if I were nothing but a common goose- 
herd and by no means the sainted father of Christendom! 
Come, come to my dear brutes, who are so frank and sincere 
that they cackle and gabble directly in my face as soon as 
their beaks and snouts are grown. They are not so humble 
and devoted, so adoring and cringing, as these men who 
prostrate themselves before me with humble and hypocrit- 
ical devotion, but who secretly curse me and wish my death, 
that there may be a change in the papacy! Come, come, to 
our honest geese!” 

Brother Lorenzo handed to the pope the willow basket 
filled with corn and green leaves, and both, with hasty steps 
and laughing faces, betook themselves to the poultry-yard ; 
the ducks and geese fluttered to them with a noisy gabbling 


974 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


as soon as they caught sight of the provender-basket, and 
Ganganelli laughingly said: “It seems as if I were here in 
the conclave, and listening to the contention of the cardi- 
nals as they quarrel about the choice of a new pope. Lo- 
renzo, I should well like to know who will succeed me in the 
sacred chair and hold the keys of St. Peter! That will be a 
stormy conclave !—Be quiet, my dear ducks and geese! In- 
deed, you are in the right, I forgot my duty! Well, well, I 
will give you your food now—here it is!” 

And the pope with full hands strewed the corn among 
the impatiently gabbling geese, and heartily laughed at the 
eagerness with which they threw themselves upon it. 

“ And is it not with men as with these dear animals? ” 
said he, laughing; “ When one satisfies them with food, they 
become silent, mild, and gentle. Princes should always 
remember that, and before all things satiate their subjects 
with food, if they would have a tranquil and unopposed 
government! Ah, that reminds me of our own poor, Lo- 
renzo! Many petitions have been received, much misery has 
been described, and many heart-rending complaints have 
been made to me!” 

“That is because they know you are always giving and 
would rather suffer want yourself than refuse gifts to 
others,” growled Lorenzo. ‘ Hardly half the month is past, 
and we are already near the end of our means!” 

“Already?” exclaimed the pope, with alarm. “And I 
believe I yet need much money. There is a father of four- 
teen children who has fallen from a scaffolding and broken 
both legs. We must care for him, Lorenzo; the children 
‘must not want for bread! ” 


THE POPE’S RECREATION HOUR. 275 


“That is understood, that is Christian duty,” said Lo- 
renzo, eagerly. ‘‘ Give me the address, I will go to him yet 
to-day! And how much money shall I take with me?” 

“ Well, I thought,” timidly responded Ganganelli, “ that 
five scudi would not be too much!” 

Lorenzo compassionately shrugged his shoulders. ‘“ You 
can never learn the value of money,” said he; “I am now 
to take five scudi to these fourteen children.” 

“Ts it not enough?” joyfully asked Ganganelli. “ Well, 
I thank God that you are so disposed! I only feared you 
would refuse me so much, because my treasury, as you say, 
is already empty. But if we yet have something left, give 
more, much more! At least a hundred scudi, Lorenzo!” 

“That is always the way with you; from extreme to ex- 
treme!” grumbled Lorenzo. “First too little, then too 
much! I shall take to them twenty scudi, and that will be 
sufficient ! ” 

“Give them thirty,” begged Ganganelli, “do you hear, 
thirty, brother Lorenzo. Thirty scudi is yet a very small 
sum ! ” . 

“ Ah, what do you know about money?” answered Lo- 
renzo, laughing; “these geese here understand the matter 
better than you, brother Clement.” 

“ Well, it is for that reason I have made you my cashier,” 
laughed Ganganelli. “A prince will always be well advised 
when he chooses a sensible and well-instructed servant for 
that which he does not understand himself. To acknowl- 
edge his ignorance on the proper occasion does honor to a 
prince, and procures him more respect than if he sought to 
give himself the appearance of knowing and understanding 


976 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


everything. Come, Lorenzo, let us go into the garden; you 
see that these fowls care nothing for us now; as they are 
satiated, they despise our provender. Come, let us go far- 
ther!” | 

“Yes, into the garden!” exclaimed Lorenzo, with a 
mysterious smile. ‘Come, brother Clement, I have prepared 
a little surprise for you there! Come and see it!” 

And the two old men turned their steps toward the gar- 
den. 

“Follow me,” said Lorenzo, preceding the pope, and 
leading him to a more solitary and better screened part of 
the garden. ‘“ Now stoop a little and creep through here, 
and then we are at the place.” 

The pope carefully followed the directions of his leader, 
and worked his way through the obstruction of the myrtle- 
bushes until he arrived at a small circular place, in the 
centre of which, shaded by tall olive-trees, was a turf-seat 
surrounded by tendrils of ivy, and before which was a small 
table of wood yet retaining its natural covering of bark. 

“See, this is my surprise!” said Lorenzo. 

Ganganelli stood silent and motionless, with folded 
hands. A deep emotion was visible in his gentle mien, and 
tears rolled slowly down over his cheeks. 

“ Well, is it not well copied, and true to nature?” asked 
Lorenzo, whose eyes beamed with satisfaction. 

“ My favorite spot in the garden of the Franciscan con- 
vent!” said Ganganelli in a tone trembling with emotion. 
“Yes, yes, Lorenzo, you have represented it exactly, you 
know well enough what gives me pleasure! Accept my 
thanks, my dear good brother.” 


THE POPE’S RECREATION HOUR. QT 


And, while giving his hand to the monk, his eye wan- 
dered with gentle delight over the place, with its beautiful 
trees and green reposing bank, and thoughtfully rested upon 
each individual object. 

“So was it,” he murmured low, “ precisely so; yes, yes, 
in this place have I passed my fairest and most precious 
hours; what have I not thought and dreamed as a youth 
and as a man, how many wishes, how many hopes have there 
thrilled my bosom, and how few of them have been real- 
ized!” 

“But one thing has been realized,” said Lorenzo, 
“ creater than all you could have dreamed or hoped! Who 
would ever have thought it possible that the poor, unknown 
Franciscan monk would become the greatest and most sub- 
lime prince in the whole world, the father of all Christen- 
dom? That is, indeed, a happiness that brother Clement, 
upon his grass-bank in the Franciscan convent, could never 
have expected ! ” 

“You, then, consider it a happiness,” said Ganganelli, 
slowly letting himself down upon the grass-bank. “ Yes, 
yes, such are you good human beings! wherever there is a 
little bit of show, a little bit of outward splendor, you im- 
mediately conclude that there is great happiness. This 
proves that you see only the outward form, paying no re- 
gard to what is concealed under that form, and which is 
often very bitter. Believe me, Lorenzo, in these times there 
is no very great happiness in being pope and the so-called 
father of Christendom. The princes have become very 
troublesome and disobedient children; they are no longer 
willing to recognize our paternal authority, and if the holy 


978 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


father does not manifest a complaisant friendliness toward 
these refractory princely children, and wink at their inde- 
pendence, they will renounce the whole connection and quit 
the paternal mansion. We should then, indeed, be the 
holy father of Christendom, but no longer have any chil- 
dren under the paternal authority! or having so ex- 
pressed myself, I shall never be pardoned by the cardinals 
and princes of the Church; it has made them my deadly 
enemies, and yet it is with these principles alone that I have 
succeeded in bringing the refractory Portuguese court again 
under my parental control ! : 

“ But here in this pleasant place let us dismiss such un- 
pleasant thoughts,” the pope more cheerfully continued, 
after a pause. “Here I will forget that Iam pope; here 
I will never be anything more than brother Clement of the 
Franciscan convent, nor shall the cares and troubles of the 
pope, nor his holiness or infallibility, accompany him to 
this dear quiet place. Here I will be only a man, and for- 
getting my cramping highness and my forced splendor, will 
here right humanly enjoy the sun and this soft green grass, 
and in deep draughts inhale this sweet balsamic air. Ah, 
how happy one may yet be if he can for a moment escape 
from the envelope of dignity by which he is kept a chrys- 
alis, and freely exercise the butterfly wings of manhood! 
And hear me for once, brother Lorenzo, so very human has 
your pope here become, that he feels a right fresh human 
appetite. If all here is as it used to be at the convent, then 
must you have something to appease my hunger.” 

Brother Lorenzo nodded with a sly smile. Stepping to 
the side of the grassy bank, and slipping aside a small door 


A DEATH-SENTENCE,. 279 


concealed by the grass, he disclosed a walled excavation, 
filled with fruits and pastry. 

“T see you have forgotten nothing!” joyfully exclaimed 
Ganganelli, taking some of the fragrant fruit which Loren- 
zo tendered him. ‘“ Ah, you make me very happy, Lo- 
renzo.” 

Saying this, he threw his arm around Lorenzo’s neck, 
and silently pressed him to his bosom. 

Brother Lorenzo was equally silent, but he no longer 
laughed; his usually cheerful face assumed a wonderfully 
clear and pleased expression, and two large tears rolled 
down over his cheek—but they were tears of joy. 


CHAPTER XXIX. 


A DEATH-SENTENCE, 


An approaching bustling, a vehement calling and 
screaming, disturbed the two old men. It was Lorenzo who 
was called, and he quickly glided through the bushes to 
look after the cause of this disturbance. But soon he re- 
turned with a melancholy face and depressed mien. 

“ Brother Clement,” said he, “it is already all over with 
our enjoyment, which has been so great for me that I for- 
got to remind you that the pope cannot neglect the hour 
in which he gives audience. That hour has now come, 
and your anteroom is already filled with princes and prel- 
ates.” 

“And yet you speak of the great happiness of being 


280 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


pope,” said Ganganelli, rising with a sigh from the grassy 
bank. “Iam not allowed ‘an hour for recreation, and yet 
people think—but no,” said Ganganelli, interrupting him- 
self and laughing, “we should not be ungrateful, and it 
would be ungrateful for me now to complain. If I have 
not had an hour for recreation, well, I have had half an 
hour, and even that is much!” 

And, beckoning to brother Lorenzo to follow him, th 
pope crept through the bushes that separated the plac- 
from the more frequented part of the garden. 

As he then walked up the grand alley, his face and his 
whole form assumed a very different appearance. The mild 
friendliness had vanished from his features, pride and dig. 
nity were now expressed by them, and his tall, erect form 
had in it something noble and imposing; it was no longer 
the stooping form of age, but only that of a somewhat 
elderly hero. The brother Clement had been transformed 
into the prince of the Church, who was about to receive hig 
vassals. 

They now saw a tall, manly form hastening down the 
alley directly toward the pope. 

“Who is it?” asked Ganganelli, half turning toward 
Lorenzo, who was following him. 

“It is Juan Angelo Braschi, the former treasurer, tc 
whom you yesterday sent the cardinal’s hat.” 

“ Ah, the beautiful Braschi,” sadly murmured Ganga- 
nelli. “The beloved of the favorite of my nephew, of the 
Cardinal Rezzonico. Ah, how bad the world is!” 

In fact, he whom Ganganelli called the “ beautiful” 
Braschi, well deserved that epithet. No nobler or more 


A DEATH-SENTENCE, 281 


plastic beauty was to be seen; no face that more reminded 
one of the divine beauty of ancient sculpture, no form that 
could be called a better counterfeit of the Belvedere Apollo. 
And it was this beauty which liberal Nature had imparted 
to him as its noblest gift, which helped Juan Angelo Bras- 
chi, the son of a poor nobleman of Cesara, to his good for- 
tune, his highest offices and dignities. Not for his merits, 
but solely for his beauty, did the women bestow upon him 
their love; and as among these women there were some 
who exercised an important influence upon powerful car- 
dinals, Braschi had quickly mounted from step to step, 
crowding aside those who had nothing but their merits and 
services to speak for them. 

With a free and noble demeanor, Braschi now ap- 
proached the pope, who remained standing at some dis- 
tance awaiting him, with a calm and proud self-possession. 
Braschi dropped upon one knee, and pressing the hem of 
the pope’s garment in his lips, said: 

“ Pardon me, most holy father, that I have ventured to 
seek you here. But my lively gratitude would not be 
longer restrained. It impelled me toward you with the 
wings of the wind. I must be the first to fall at your feet 
to stammer out to you my inexpressible thanks.” 

Proudly nodding his head the pope motioned him to 
rise. 

“Tt is well,” said he, “and you have lent your gratitude 
an abundance of words. It is true you were only treas- 
urer, and I have permitted you to take a great step in 
making you a cardinal. But remember, my lord cardinal, 


that I have promoted you only because I wished to take 
19 


282 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


from you the office of treasurer, as I need a man for that 
post whose honesty no one could call in question!” * 

Thus speaking he passed on with a ceremonious saluta- 
' tion, leaving the new cardinal rooted to the earth with 
terror, his beautiful brow distorted with rage. 

“He shall expiate that,’ muttered Braschi, gnashing 
his teeth, as the pope slowly pursued his way. ‘“ By the 
Eternal, the proud Franciscan shall expiate that! Ah, the 
day will come when he will fully remember these words!” 

Meantime, Ganganelli wandered calmly on, followed by 
his faithful Lorenzo, with a smile of joy at this dismissal 
and humiliation of the proud and handsome Cardinal 
Braschi. 

The pope suddenly stopped, and turning to Lorenzo, 
said : 

“ What a strange thought has passed through my head! 
I have made this miserable coxcomb Braschi a cardinal 
because he was not honest enough for a treasurer, but in 
doing so I have paved the way for him to the papal throne! 
Would it not be strange, Lorenzo, if I have thus myself 
provided my successor? His dishonesty and intriguing 
disposition has made him a cardinal. Why can it not alse 
make him a pope? The world is indeed so strange!” + 

* The pope’s own words.—See Gorani, vol. ii., p. 27. 

+ Juan Angelo Braschi, whom Pope Clement XIV. made a car- 
dinal, was in fact Ganganelli’s successor, and took possession of the 
papal chair as Pius VI. He was chosen after a very stormy conclave, 
and indeed the different parties voted for him on the ground that he 
belonged to no party, and because they thought he was so very much 
occupied with his own beauty that he would think of nothing else, 


and, while occupied with the care of his face, would leave the cares 
of state to others. 


A DEATH-SENTENCE. 283. 


“ What dreams those are,” murmured Lorenzo, shrug- 
ging his shoulders; “ the idea that a Braschi could be the 
successor of the noble Ganganelli!” 

Many cardinals and princes of the Church, many noble- 
men and foreign ambassadors, were assembled in the pope’s 
audience-room, and as Ganganelli entered, they all received 
him with joyful acclamations, and humbly fell upon their 
knees before the head of the church, the vicegerent of God, 
who, with solemn majesty, bestowed upon them his bless- 
ing, and then condescendingly conversed with them. That 
was a ceremony to which the pope was obliged to subject. 
himself once a week, and which he reckoned as not one of 
the least of the troubles attendant upon his exalted posi- 
tion. Hence he was well pleased when this hour was over, 
and he at length was relieved of the presence of all these 
eulogistic and flattering gentlemen. 

Only Cardinal Bernis had remained behind, and to him 
Ganganelli, giving him his hand, and drawing a deep breath, 
said : 

“ What a mass of false and hypocritical phrases we have 
again been obliged to swallow! These cardinals have the 
impudence to speak to me of their love and veneration; they 
do not hesitate so to lie with the same lips which to-day have. 
already pronounced blessings and pious words of edifica- 
tion! But let us forget these hypocrites. Business is over, 
and it is kind of you to come and chat with me for one 
little hour. You know I love you very much, my good 
friend Bernis, although you do pay homage to the heathen 
divinities, and, as a real renegade, have constituted yourself 
a priest of the muses.” 


‘284 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


“ Ah, you speak of my youthful sins,” said the cardinal, 
smiling. “They are long since past, and sleep with my 
youthful happiness.” 

“That must be a wide bed which enables them all to 
find place side by side,” responded Ganganelli, laughing, 
and holding up his forefinger threateningly to the cardinal. 

“But what is that you are drawing from your breast- 
‘pocket with such an important air?” 

“ A letter from the Marquise de Pompadour, holy father,” 
‘seriously replied the cardinal—“a letier in which I am 
commanded to communicate to you, the father of Christen- 
dom, the acquiescence of France in your proposed abolition 
of the order of the Jesuits. Here is a private letter ad- 
‘dressed to me by the marquise, and here the official letter 
signed by King Louis, which is destined for your holi- 
ness.” 

The pope took the papers, and while he was reading 
them his face turned deadly pale, and a dark cloud gathered 
upon his brow. 

‘“ France also acquiesces,” said he, when he had finished 
‘the reading. “How is it, then—were you not yourself 
‘against the abolition of the order, and were you not in 
accordance with the Spanish ambassador, your friend of 
many years?” 

“This friendship of many years is to-day destroyed by a 
fish, and drives us a helpless wreck upon the wildly-rolling 
waves,” said the cardinal, shrugging his shoulders. 

Ganganelli paid no attention to him. Serious and 
thoughtful, he walked up and down the room, while his 
heavenward-directed eye seemed to address a great and all- 





A DEATH-SENTENCE. 285 


important question to the Being there above, which re- 
ceived no answer. 

“T clearly see how it will be,” finally murmured the 
pope, as if talking to himself. “I shall complete the work 
I have begun—it is God Himself who has opened the way 
for it, but this way will at the same time lead me to my 
grave.” 

“ What dark thoughts are these?” said Bernis, approach- 
ing him. “This bold and high-hearted resolution will not 
bring you death, but fame and immortality.” 

“Tt will at least lead me to immortality,” said the pope, 
with a faint smile. “The dead are all immortal. But 
think not so little of me as to suppose I would now timidly 
shrink from doing that which I have once recognized as 
right and necessary. Only there are necessities of a very 
painful and dreadful kind. Such a necessity is war. And 
is it not a war that I commence, and does it not involve the 
destruction of all those thousands who call themselves the 
followers of Loyola, and belong to the Society of Jesus? 
Ah, believe me, this Society of Jesus is a hydra, and we 
shall never succeed in entirely extirpating it. I may now 
cleave the head with my sword, and with the same blow I 
may separate my own head from my body; but a day will 
come when the head of this hydra will have grown again, 
and when it will rise from the dead with renewed vitality, 
while I shall be mouldering in my grave. Say not, there- 
fore, that I know not how to destroy them, and if you do 
say it, at least add that I lacked not the will, but that I gave 
for it my own life.” 

Thus speaking, the pope slightly nodded an adieu to the 


286 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


cardinal, and withdrew into his’study, the door of which he 
carefully closed after him. 

There was he long heard to walk the room with measured 
steps. Then all was still. No one ventured to disturb him. 
Hours passed. Lorenzo, with a fearful presentiment, knelt 
before the door. He laid his ear to the keyhole and tried 
to listen. All was still within, nothing stirred. At length 
he ventured to call the pope’s name—at first low and tremu- 
lously, then louder and more anxiously, and as no answer 
was received, he at last ventured to open the door. 

At his writing-table sat the pope; his face deadly pale, 
with staring eyes and great drops of perspiration on his fore- 
head. Immovable sat he there, his right hand, which held a 
pen, resting on a parchment lying upon the table before him. 

Like an image of wax, so stiff, so motionless was he, that 
Lorenzo, shuddering, made the sign of the cross upon his 
brow. Then, noiselessly advancing, he timidly and anx- 
iously touched the pope’s shoulder. Ganganelli shuddered, 
and a slight trembling pervaded his members; he then drew 
a long breath, and, casting a dull glance at his faithful 
friend, said : 

“‘ Lorenzo, let my coffin be ordered, and pray for my 
soul. I have just now signed my own death-sentence. 
See, there it lies. I have signed the decree abolishing the 
order of the Jesuits! I must therefore die, Lorenzo. It is 
all over and past with our shady place and our recreations. 
My murderers are already prowling around me, for I tell 
you I have myself signed my death-sentence !” * 


* The pope’s own words.—See Gorani, vol. ii., p. 41. 








THE FESTIVAL OF CARDINAL BERNIS, 287 


CHAPTER XXX. 


THE FESTIVAL OF CARDINAL BERNIS. 


AnD this day of the festival had finally come. With 
what joyful impatience, with what anxious desire, had Nata- 
lie looked forward to it—how had she importuned her 
friend, Count Paulo, with questions about Cardinal Bernis, 
about the people she would meet there, about the manners 
and usages with which she would have to conform! 

“JT am anxious and fearful,” said she, with amiable 
modesty; “they will find occasion to laugh at me, and you 
will be compelled to blush for me, Paulo. But you must 
tell these wise men and great ladies that it is my very first 
appearance in society, and that they must have considera- 
tion for the awkwardness and ineptitude of a poor child 
who knows nothing of the world, its forms, or its laws.” 

“For you no excuse will be necessary,” responded Paulo, 
pressing the delicate tips of her fingers to his lips. “ Only 
be quite yourself, perfectly true and open, inoffensive and 
cheerful! Forget that you are in an assemblage; imagine 
yourself to be in our garden, under the trees and among 
the flowers, and speak to people as you speak to your trees 
and flowers.” : 

“But will the people give me as true and cordial an- 
swers as my trees and flowers?” asked Natalie, thought- 
fully. 

“They will say to you more beautiful and more flatter- 
ing things,” said Paulo, smiling. “ But now, Natalie, it is 
time to be thinking of your toilet. See, the sun is already 


288 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


sinking behind the pines, and the sky begins to redden! 
The time to go will soon arrive, and ‘your first triumph 
awaits you!” 

“Oh, it will not have long to wait,” said Natalie, laugh- 
ing, and, light and graceful as a gazelle, she tripped to the 
house. 

Count Paulo gazed after her with a melancholy rapture. 
“And I am to leave this angel,” thought he, “ to lose the 
brightest and noblest jewel of my life, and drive myself out 
of paradise. And wherefore all this? Perhaps to chase a 
phantom that will never become a, reality, to follow a 
chimera which may be only a meteor that dances before me 
and dissolves into mist when I think to reach it? No, no, 
the world is not worth so much that one should sell himself 
and his soul’s happiness for its splendor and its greatness. 
Natalie herself shall decide. Loves she me, and is she 
satisfied with the quiet circumscribed existence that I can 
henceforth only offer her, then away, ye vain dreams and 
ye proud desires for greatness; then shall I be, if not the 
greatest, certainly the happiest of human beings!” 

It was a wonderfully brilliant festival that Cardinal 
Bernis had to-day prepared for his guests—a festival hith- 
erto unequalled in Rome. The walls were decorated with 
garlands and festoons of flowers, the flaming candelabras 
among which found their reflection in the tall Venetian 
mirrors that rose in their golden frames from the floor to 
the ceilings; and in the corners of the rooms were niches, 
here furnished with orange-trees, and there with heavy silk 
curtains, behind which were grottoes adorned with shells, 
in the midst of which were fountains where splashed 


eee a ee 


el i ee oe ai ee —_ —— , =) _ 


THE FESTIVAL OF CARDINAL BERNIS. 289 


waters rendered fragrant by oil of roses and other essences. 
And ever-new surprises, new grottoes and groves in those 
rich halls offered themselves to the eyes of the beholders. 
Now one suddenly found himself in a quiet boudoir lighted 
only by a solitary lamp, where the most artistic engravings 
and the rarest drawings were spread out upon a table; then 
again one entered a hall sparkling with a thousand lights 
and resounding with music, where the gayly-dressed crowd 
undulated in mazy waves; then again grottoes opened here 
and there, or one stepped out through the open doors into 
the garden where one could enjoy the balsamic coolness of 
the evening in walks brilliantly lighted with colored lamps, 
or listen to the music of performers concealed in the shrub- 
bery, or, again, fleeing from the throng and the lights, seek 
a resting-place upon some grassy bank or under some myr- 
tle-bush, whether for solitary musing or for encircling in 
sweet and silent familiarity the waist of some chosen fair 
one who understanding the stolen glance, had strayed here 
unnoticed. 

But the central point of the festival was the monstrous 
gigantic hall which the cardinal had caused to be erected 
in the centre of the garden expressly for this occasion. 
The walls of muslin and flowers were held together by 
more than a hundred gilded pillars, the girandoles attached 
to each of which diffused a sea of light. Silken carpets 
covered the floor, and the plafond of this gigantic hall was 
formed by the thousand-starred arch of heaven. Here, also, 
niches and grottoes were everywhere to be found; in them 
one could, in the midst of the constantly moving and noisy 
crowd, enjoy quiet and repose. 


290 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


Only one of these niches was inaccessible, as it appears, 
to the company, and yet it was precisely this which excited 
the curiosity of all, and which all, whispering, approached, 
anxious to get a peep behind the closed thick silken cur- 
tains, before which two richly gallooned servants of the 
cardinal walked back and forth with solemn earnestness, 
but respectfully requesting every one to comply with the 
cardinal’s wishes and not approach the mysterious drapery, 
but await his own time for the solution of the enigma! <A 
few steps led up to this closed and covered niche; these 
steps were strewed with roses, that was plainly seen; but, to 
what did these steps lead, and what was thus carefully con- 
cealed ? 

A precious surprise, certainly, for it was the forte of the 
cardinal to prepare surprises for the agreeable entertain- 
ment of his guests. The ladies and gentlemen, the cardi- 
nals and princes of the Church, crowded around him beg- 
ging for an explanation of the mystery, a disclosure of the 
secret. | 
“T am myself uninitiated,” said Cardinal Bernis, laugh- 
ing; “some divinity may have taken a seat there, or per- 
haps it is a sphinx which will from thence give us the solu- 
tion of her enigma. But let us see what belated guests are 
now coming to us.” 

And the cardinal with zealous precipitation approached 
the principal entrance to the hall, the portiéres of which 
had just been drawn aside, and behind was seen Natalie at 
the hand of Paulo. 

As if blinded by the sudden flood of light, she stood for 
a moment still, a purple glow flushing her delicate cheeks, 








ss oe 


a — 


THE FESTIVAL OF CARDINAL BERNIS, 291 


and clinging to Paulo’s arm, she whispered: “ Protect me, 
Paulo, I am so frightened by this crowd!” 

Just at that moment the doorkeeper cried with a loud 
voice: “ Princess Natalie Tartaroff and Count Paulo!” 

At the-sound of these strange names all glanced toward 
the door, and all flaming, curious, prying eyes were fixed 
with astonishment and admiration upon the young maiden. 

But Natalie did not remark it. She glanced at Paulo 
with a glad smile, and a proud happiness beamed from her 
features. She had, then, a name; she was no longer an 
abandoned, nameless orphan. At length the enigma of her 
birth was solved, and what she had so often prayed for, 
Count Paulo had vouchsafed her as a surprise to-day. 

He had at the same time announced her name to herself 
and the world, and she not only had a name, but she was a 
princess; she took a rank in the company, and Count 
Paulo and Carlo had no reason to be ashamed of her. But 


where was Carlo? At the thought of him this feeling of 


effervescing pride vanished from the young maiden’s heart; 
she even forgot that she was a princess, to remember only 
that Carlo, her music-teacher, had promised her to be pres- 
ent at this festival, and to wonder that she could not dis- 
cover him in this gay and confused assemblage. 

She did not remark that, since her appearance, a deep 
stillness had supervened in the hall, that all eyes were upon 
her, that people secretly whispered to each other, and gave 
utterance to murmured expressions of astonishment and de- 
light; she saw not how the beauties here and there turned 
pale and indignantly bit their proud lips; she saw not how 


_the eyes of the men glowed and flashed, and what eagerly- 


292 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


lusting glances the cardinals and princes of the Church cast 
upon her. 

She was so unconstrained, this charming child, she knew 
not how handsome she was. But she was to-day of a won- 
derfully touching beauty. Like a white and delicate lily 
stood she there in the heavy white satin robe that enveloped. 
her graceful form, and the brilliants that adorned her hair, 
neck, and arms, shone and sparkled like sun-lighted dew- 
drops in the calyx of the flower. So beautiful was she that. 
even Cardinal Bernis stood speechless and as if blinded be- 
fore her, finding no expression for his joyful surprise and 
astonishment. 

“Qh,” at length he smilingly said, with a low bow, “I 
shall have to quarrel with Count Paulo! He promised us. 
the presence of a mortal woman, and now he leads into our 
circle a divinity who must look down upon us poor human 
beings with a smile of contempt.” 

Natalie smiled. “I know,” said she, with her clear, 
sweet, childish voice—‘I know that Cardinal Bernis is a 
poet, and therefore it will not be very difficult for him to 
change a young maiden into a divinity. Nor is this the 
first time he has done so! I remember a lovely poem of his, 
the complaint of a shepherd, who considers the object of his: 
love a divinity because she is so beautiful, and at last she 
proves to be no divinity, but on the contrary a regular little 
quarrelsome wrangler, who has nothing beautiful about her 
but her hands and face. Take care, cardinal, that it does 
not prove with you and me as with the shepherd in your 
charming poem!” 

She said that with such childish ingenuousness, and in 


THE FESTIVAL OF CARDINAL BERNIS. 993. 


so cheerful and jesting a tone, that the cardinal listened to 
her as if intoxicated, and with unconcealed admiration he 
looked into that delicate, childishly pure face, over which 
no trace of sorrow nor any sigh of care had ever yet passed. 

Without answering, he took her arm, and, beckoning 
Count Paulo to his side, led the princess to the circle of 
ladies. 

Behind those closed curtains that still concealed the 
mysterious niche it had meanwhile become stirring. Busy 
servants hastened hither and thither, lighting the lamps 
and arranging the festoons and draperies. It seems they 
had here erected a little stage, and the large wall-picture 
that formed the background of this stage bore the appear- 
ance of adecoration. A side curtain, serving as a partition, 
formed a second room, which seemed destined for a sort of 
greenroom, in the centre of which was a large and well- 
lighted mirror, and before it stood a young woman regard- 
ing herself with the greatest attention, here plucking at her 
dress and there arranging her train or an ornament. She 
was evidently the one who was to appear upon the stage; 
her costume betrayed it. It was not the fashionable cos- 
tume of the day, such as was worn by the distinguished 
ladies of Roman society; it was an ideal Greek dress that 
seemed to have been made for the purpose of displaying 
and rendering yet more voluptuous and enticing the great 
beauty of the wearer. 

She was very beautiful, this woman, with her sparkling 
black eyes and dark shining hair, which had been gathered 
into a Grecian knot behind—beautiful, with the laurel- 
wreath resting upon her high forehead—beautiful, in the 


994 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


transparent Grecian robe which only so far concealed the 
luxuriant forms of her full figure as to allow them to be 
divined—beautiful, with those full, round, and entirely un- 
covered arms, with their jewelled bracelets—beautiful, with 
her graceful neck, her fully exposed, naked RnGEidare and 
her voluptuously swelling bosom. 

She was, in her appearance, a Greek, only her face was 
not Grecian. It was wanting in the noble forms, the still 
cheerfulness and repose of Grecian beauty, modest even in 
its voluptuousness. It was only the face of a sensual and 
passionate Roman woman, and no Lais would have ventured 
such a smile as played upon the dark-red lips of this Roman 
woman, or such glowing glances as she shot like arrows 
from her dark eyes. 

Standing before the. glass, she viewed herself, her lips 
murmuring low words, occasionally turning her eyes from 
the mirror to the little table standing near it, upon which 
lay several open books. 

What murmured she, and what read she in those books? 
Singular! she was uttering single, isolated, unconnected 
words, which had nothing in common with each other but 
the sound of melody; they were rhymes, but without con- 
nection or sense, without inward mental correlation. 

“So,” she now said to herself, with a satisfied smile, “I 
am now perfectly armed and prepared. All these rhymes 
of Tasso and Petrarch are now implanted in my mind and 
ready for use, and I have not to fear embarrassment in re- 
peating any of them. Ah, they shall admire me, these good 
Romans. I will animate and inflame them, and excite all 
my enamored cardinals to such an ecstasy that they must 





a Pal 
- a eT oe Se ee 


THE FESTIVAL OF CARDINAL BERNIS. 295 


finally prevail upon the silly, obstinate old pope against his 
own will to fulfil my only desire. I will attain my end, 
even if I am compelled to pawn my honor and my salvation 
for it! Bah! honor; what can honor be to a woman? 
Beauty is our honor, further nothing! And fair, it seems 
tome, I yetam! And if I am fair,” she more glowingly 
continued, after a pause, “how comes it that Carlo has 
ceased to love me? Ah, the false one, to betray and desert 
me when I love him most!” 

A dark flush of anger now overspread her cheeks, and 
threateningly raising her hands, with compressed lips she 
continued: “ And to desert me for another woman—me, 
the pride and delight of all Rome; me, whom all the princes 
and cardinals worship! Ah, while thousands lie at my feet, 
imploring for a glance or a smile, this little, unknown singer 
dares to scorn me and deride my love!” 

“ And why should he not dare it ?” asked a voice behind 
her, and the face of a young man became visible. 

“Carlo!” she cried, hastening to meet him with out- 
spread arms. 

He almost ungently checked her. ‘“ You forget,” said 
he, “that this little, insignificant, and unknown singer loves 
you no longer, Corilla! Grant, then, henceforth to the 
thousands who languish at your feet a few of your enticing 
smiles and glowing glances—I have nothing against it, and 
am not at all jealous!” 

“ But you should be!” cried she, stamping her feet with 
rage. “TI tell you I will not suffer you to leave me; I will 
be loved by you, and no one shall you dare to look at, and 
no one shall you dare to love, but me alone.” - 


296 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


Carlo broke out into a scornful laugh, and then seriously 
and proudly said: “I am a Neapolitan, and with us men do 
not allow themselves to be constrained to love, and no wom- 
an there dares utter the command, ‘Thou shalt love me !’— 
I will not, Signora Corilla !” 

_ “You will not!” screamed she, gnashing her teeth. 
*‘'Then woe to you and to her!” 

“J fear no serpents!” said Carlo, laughing, “and if an 
adder attempts to sting me, I tread it under foot!” 

“ But fear at least for her you love!” she threateningly 
said. “Oh, you think I shall not be able to discover this 
secret love of yours, and not spy out this new divinity to 
whom you have consecrated your heart? ‘Tremble there- 
fore now, for I know her! I know the garden in which she 
lives, and there is a place in the wall just opposite her favor- 
ite seat ; whoever knows that place and possesses a steady 
hand and a sharp dagger will know how to hurl it so as to 
pierce her bosom.” | 

Carlo felt a deadly terror, he felt his heart stand still, 
but he collected himself and said, with a contemptuous 
smile: “Cardinal Francesco Albani indeed possesses among 
his bravi many such skilful hands, and surely it will not 
require many of your highly-prized glances to induce him 
to favor you with the loan of one of them.” 

The signora slightly bit her lips. ‘“ You mock me,” she 
almost sadly said, “and yet you should remember that it is 
only love that makes me so savage and fills my heart with a 
thirst for vengeance! Carlo, I so warmly love you!” 

And the beautiful, glowing woman humbly and implor- 
ingly bent before her beloved. 





THE FESTIVAL OF CARDINAL BERNIS. 297 


The latter laughingly said: “ How well you know how 
to say that—with what variations and modulations! I yes- 
terday heard you say the same to Cardinal Albani; to be 
sure, it sounded a little different, but not less warm and 
glowing!” 

“ You know why I do that!” said she. “ He is an en- 
amored fool, whom I would win with tender words that I 
may make him my instrument. You know the object for 
which I strive, and which I must attain at any price! Ah, 
Carlo, when once they have crowned me in the capitol, then, 
I am sure, you will be compelled to love me again!” 

“‘ Never again!” he harshly and roughly said. 

“Is that your last word?” shrieked she, with flashing 
eyes and the wild rage of a tigress. 

“Tt is my last word!” 

She flew to him like a mad person, seized his hands 
and fixedly stared him in the face. 

“Ungrateful!” said she, gnashing her teeth. “Is it 
thus you reward my love, is this your return for all I have 
done for you? Canyou forget that it was I who withdrew 
you from poverty and baseness? What were you but a 
poor, unnoticed singer in the streets, on whom people be- 
stowed scanty alms? Was it not I who rescued you from 
that shame, and clothed you and gave youahome? Was 
it not I who gave you a name and procured you consider- 
ation and respect by making you my singer and companion, 
and allowing you to play upon the harp at my improvisa- 
tions? How has not all Rome admired you when you sang 
the canzones I wrote for you, thereby procuring you honor 
and respectability, and making you a popular man from a 

90 Fes 


298 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


low beggar? Go, you cannot leave me, for you are my 
creature, my property!” 

He wildly thrust her aside, and his eyes flashed with in- 
dignation. “Signora,” said he, his lips tremulous with 
rage, “ you have rent the last band that bound me to you, 
and in twitting me of your benefits you have annihilated 
them! We now have nothing in common with each other, 
except perhaps mutual hatred, and that, I hope, will have 
a longer duration than our love!” 

And Carlo turned toward the door. Corilla rushed 
after him with an exclamation ot terror. . 

“You will leave me now!” cried she, with anguish, “now, 
in this hour when you are so indispensable ‘to me? now, 
when I am to celebrate a new triumph before this notable 
assembly? when all eyes are expectantly turned to the cur- 
tain behind which I am to appear? No, no, Carlo, from 
compassion remain with me only one hour, only this even- 
ing!” 

Carlo smiled contemptuously. “I will remain,” said 
he, “for I have promised her that she shall hear you!” 

“She has therefore come?” cried Corilla, with an out- 
burst of joy. 

‘She is now here,” he laconically said. 

Corilla no longer listened to him, she walked back and 
forth with a triumphant mien, a cruel, malicious smile play- 
ing upon her lips. 

At this moment there was a slight knock at the door, 
which was opened, anda man who appeared upon the 
threshold glanced into the room with a grinning laugh. 

Corilla gave him a sign, and at the same time pointed 


Se ee eens ee 





Ee a F 


THE FESTIVAL OF CARDINAL BERNIS, 299 


at Carlo, who, having turned his back toward her, seemed 
to have no suspicion of what was occurring behind him. 
But he saw it, nevertheless, in the tall mirror that stood in 
the middle of the room; he saw Corilla make signs of intel- 
ligence with that man who was in the livery of Cardinal 
Francesco Albani; he saw the man make answer with his 
fingers, and then draw forth a dagger, which he threaten- 
ingly swung over his head. 

Oh, Carlo had very well understood what that man said, 
as he also did that language of the fingers, the much-used 
language of the Romans and Neapolitans. 

The man had said: “She is here, that beautiful lady! 
She can no longer escape us!” 

“ You will strike her?” had Corilla asked. 

The man had swung the dagger over his head and held 
up two fingers of his right hand. That signified: “In two 
hours she will be dead.” 

“Good! you shall be satisfied with me,” had been Co- 
rilla’s answer. 

The door was again closed. Corilla turned smiling to 
Carlo, her former rancor seemed to have vanished; she 
was in high spirits. 

“Carlo,” said she, “ how good you are not to leave me! 
Let us now begin. I feel myself glowing with inspira- 
tion. Ah, I shall enrapture these good Romans, I 
think !” 

“ How long will this improvisation last?” Carlo gruffly 
asked. 

“ Well, one or two hours, according to the delight we 
give our public.” 


300 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


“ If this farce continues longer than an hour and a half, 
I shall throw down my harp and go away,” said Carlo, in 
a tone of severity. “I swear it to you by the spirit of my 
mother! Remember it; I shall show you the time every 
quarter of an hour.” 

“ You are a tyrant,” said she, laughing. “ But I sup- 
pose I must submit. Give, therefore, the signal that we are 
ready.” 


CHAPTER XXXI. 


THE IMPROVISATRICE. 


Att the guests of the cardinal were assembled in the 
gigantic hall, and all eyes were anxiously bent upon the 
mysterious curtain, which still remained closed. 

Now resounded a little bell, and Cardinal Bernis smil- 
ingly turned to Natalie, who sat by his side. 

“T think this mystery is about to be unveiled,” said he. 

“And I am quite anxious about it,” said the young 
maiden, gracefully laying her hand upon her heart. My 
heart beats as violently as if a mystery were about to be 
unveiled in my own breast. Do you believe in presenti- 
ments, Sir Cardinal?” 

Bernis had not time to answer her. Just at that mo- 
ment the curtain drew up, a general “ Ah!” of admiration 
was heard, and, suddenly carried away by their feelings, the 
whole audience broke into extravagant and long-enduring 
applause, crying and shouting, “ Hvviva Corilla! Pimpro- 
visatrice Corilla!” 


THE IMPROVISATRICE, 301 


And in fact it was an admirable picture which was 
there presented to the audience. Those flower-strewed 
steps led up to an altar, upon the centre of which, be- 
tween wreaths of flowers, shot up two dark-red flames. 
Against that altar leaned, exalted and august as a Grecian 
priestess, the improvisatrice Corilla. Her eyes raised to 
the heavens, her features lighted up with a rosy glow by 
the red flames, her half-raised right arm resting upon an | 
urn, while her left arm was stretched upward toward 
heaven, she thus resembled an inspired priestess, just re- 
ceiving a message from on high, listening with ecstasy, 
with suppressed breath and parted lips, to the voice of the 
Deity, and forgetting the world in a blissful intoxication, 
she seemed about to take her flight to the empyrean ! 

And while Corilla, as if absorbed in spiritual contem- 
plation, continued to stand immovable there, began the low 
notes of a harp, which, gradually becoming fuller and 
stronger, at length resounded in powerfully rushing and 
exultant tones. From Corilla all eyes were now turned upon 
Carlo, who, in the light dress of a Greek youth, his harp 
upon his arm, was leaning against a pomegranate tree 
placed in the background of the stage, and with his pale, 
serious face, with his noble, manly features, formed a 
beautiful contrast to the inspired and love-beaming priest- 
ess Corilla. 

Natalie, feeling something like a slight puncture in her 
heart, involuntarily carried her hand to her bosom. It was 
a strange, a wonderful feeling, which stirred within her, 
partly partaking of joy at seeing and hearing her friend 
Carlo, as people were murmuring praises of his beauty, and 


302 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


of his great skill upon the harp, and partly a feeling of 
painful emotion. She knew not why, but as her glance 
met his, it quickly turned toward Corilla, and quite sadly 
she said to herself: “ She is much handsomer than I!” 

Carlo now opened his lips, and to a beautifully simple. 
melody he sweetly sang an introductory song, as it were to: 
prepare the audience for the coming solemnity. Having 
finished this, two lovely amourettes came forward, with sil- 
ver vases in their hands, and hastened down the steps to 
the audience, politely requesting them to furnish themes 
for the great improvisatrice Corilla. 

Then, returning to the altar, they threw into the urn 
the small scraps of paper on which the guests had proposed. 
themes. The harp again resounded, and with a solemn — 
earnestness, her face and glance still directed upward, Co- 
‘yilla drew one of the little strips of paper from the urn. 
Accident, or perhaps her own dexterity, had favored her. 

“‘Sappho’s lament before throwing herself from the 
rocks ”»—that was the theme proposed. 

Corilla’s face immediately took an expression of sad- 
ness; her eyes flashed with an unnatural fire; her previous- 
ly raised arm fell powerless by her side; her head, like a 
broken rose, sank upon her breast; her other hand convul- 
sively grasped the urn, and in this position she in fact re- 
sembled an abandoned mourner, weeping over the ashes of 
her lost happiness. She was now the repudiated and for- 
saken one who, ready to resign her life, was brooding upon 
thoughts of death. And while her face took this expres- 
sion, and she, staring upon the earth before her, seemed 
to be meditating upon irremediable fate, thought Corilla: 





: 
| 


_— a. — | ee A 


CN ee ee ee 


ae Se 


2 — ee 


THE IMPROVISATRICE. 303 © 


“ This is a charming theme which the good Cardinal Albani 
has thrown into the urn for me. I found it directly by the 
small pin which, according to his promise, he inserted in 
the paper. This cardinal is an agreeable imp, and I must 
give him a kiss for his complaisance. Besides, the Tasso 
rhyme will here be the most appropriate ! ” 

Again she directed her gaze, with a gloomy expression, 
toward the heavens, and with a violently heaving bosom, 
with feverishly flitting breath, she began the lament of 
Sappho. Now like rattling thunder, now like the gentle 
breathings of the flute, rolled this sweet and picturesque 
language of Italy from her lips—like music sounded those 
full, artistic rhymes, of which but few of the hearers had 
the least suspicion that they came from Tasso. To im- 
provise in the Italian language is an easy and a grateful 
task! What wonder, then, that Corilla acquitted herself 
so charmingly? The audience paid no attention to the 
thoughts expressed; they asked not after the quintessence ; 
they were satisfied with the agreeable sound, without in- 
quiring into the sense of her words; it was their melody 
which was admired. They listened not for the thought, 
but only for the rhyme, and with ecstatic smiles and admir- 
ing glances they nodded to each other when, thanks to the 
studies which Corilla had made in Tasso, Marino, and 
Ariosto, she seemed of herself to find rhymes for the most 
difficult words. 

An immense storm of applause resounded when she 
ended; and as if awakening from an intoxicating ecstasy, 
Corilla glanced around with an expression of astonishment 
on her features; she looked around as if she knew not. 


304 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


whence she came, and in what strange surroundings she 
now found herself. | 

After a short pause, which Carlo filled out with his 
harp, she again put her hand into the urn and drew out a 
new theme; again the inspiration seemed to pass over her, 
rand the holy Whitsuntide of her muse to be renewed. 
Constantly more and more stormily resounded the plaudits 
of her hearers; it was like a continued thunder of enthu- 
siasm, a real salvo of joy. It animated Corilla to new im- 
provisations; she again and again recurred to the urn, 
drawing forth new themes, and seemed to be absolutely 
inexhaustible. 

“Tt is now enough,” whispered Carlo, just as she had 
drawn forth a new theme. ‘“ You have but a quarter of an 
hour left!” 

“Only this theme yet,” she begged inalowtone. “It 
is a very happy one, it will win for me the hearts of all 
these cardinals and gentlemen! ” 

“Yet a quarter of an hour, and then your time is up,” 
said he. ‘“ Remember my oath, I shall keep my word !” 

An inexplicable anxiety, a tormenting uneasiness, came 
over him; he had hardly strength and recollection suffi- 
cient to enable him to accompany Corilla, who was discuss- 
ing in verse the question, “ Which Rome was the happiest, 
ancient or modern? ” 

Carlo’s eyes, fixed and motionless, rested upon Natalie ; 
it fearfully alarmed him not to be near her, not to be able 
to watch every one of her steps, every one of her motions; 
it seemed to him as if he saw that savage man with his 
naked dagger lurking near her! And she, was she not pale 


ra 


=~. : 


se 


oe eS Oe a a Se a 


THE IMPROVISATRICE. 305 


as a lily; seemed she not, in that white robe, to be already 
the bride of death ? 

“JT must hasten to her, I must protect her or die!” 
thought he, and, with a threatening glance at Corilla, he 
showed her the hour. Corilla read in the expression of his 
face that he was in earnest with his threat, and as if her 
inspiration lent wings to her words, she spoke on as in a 
storm of inward agitation, and with words of fire she de- 
cided that modern Rome was the happiest, as she had the 
holy father of Christendom, her pope, and his cardinals! 

The applause, the general delight, was now unbounded ; 
cardinals were to be seen weeping with enthusiasm and 
joy; others with heartfelt emotion were showering words 
of blessing upon the improvisatrice, and all pressed toward 
the tribune in order to accompany her down the steps and 
in among the company. 

A sudden thought of rescue had like a flash of light- 
ning arisen in Carlo’s soul. 

“Natalie must first be completely separated from this 
society, and then I will seek this man and render him in- 
capable of mischief!” thought he. 

By main strength he made himself a path through the 
crowd surrounding Corilla, and now stood near Cardinal 
Bernis, at whose side still remained Natalie and Count 
Paulo. . 

“You have struck the lyre like an Apollo,” exclaimed 
the cardinal to the singer. 

Carlo bowed with a smile, and hastily said: “And are 
you ignorant, your eminence, that a much greater poetess 
and improvisatrice than our Corilla is in your society?” 


306 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


The cardinal smilingly threatened him with his finger. 
“* Poor Carlo, has it already come to this?” said he. “You 
are jealous of our delight in Corilla, and would lessen her 
fame, that you may make her more your own!” 

“JT speak the truth,” said Carlo; “a poetess is among 
us whom the muses themselves have consecrated, an im~ 
‘provisatrice, not of human composition, but by the grace 
of God, to whom the angels whisper the rhymes, and the 
muses the ideas!” 

* And who, then, is this divinely-gifted artist, this con- 
secrated daughter of the muses?” wonderingly asked the 
cardinal. 

Carlo indicated Natalie, and bowed to the ground be- 
fore her. 

“Princess Tartaroff?” asked the cardinal, with aston- 
ishment. 

“That she is a princess, I know not,” said Carlo, “ but I 
am quite certain she is a poetess! ” 

What was it that at this moment stirred the soul of the 
young maiden? She now felt a pride, a blessed joy, and 
yet she had previously felt so sad at Corilla’s triumph! It 
seemed as if enthusiasm raised its wings in her, as if the 
word, the right word, pressed to her lips, as if she must 
utter in song her rejoicings and lamentings for her simul- 
taneously felt pleasures and pains! A pure and genuine 
child of Nature, she felt in herself the natural impulse to 
pour out in words, tones, and even in tears, what agitated 
her soul, and to which she was unable to give a name. 

Cardinal Bernis had first turned imploringly to Count 
Paulo, praying for his permission to invite the young 


THE IMPROVISATRICE. 307 


‘princess to surprise and delight the company with some of 
her improvisations. Others, overhearing this, mingled in 
the conversation, and added their requests to those of the 
cardinal; and, the feeling becoming general, the requests 
for an improvisation became universal and pressing; peo- 
ple, momentarily forgetting the great and celebrated im- 
provisatrice Corilla, with a feverish curiosity turned to the 
new and unknown star. Corilla stood almost alone—only 
Cardinal Albani remaining by her side; but his tender 
‘words were not competent to appease the violent storm of 
jealousy that raged in her soul. 

The solicitations of the curious Romans became con- 
stantly more urgent, and Count Paulo, unable longer to 
resist them, finally consented to leave the decision to his 
‘ward, the young princess herself. 

And Natalie? She was so real and ingenuous a child of 
Nature that she felt no timidity in the presence of this 
crowd; she was so full of faith and confidence, so full of 
trust and human love. She thought: “ Why should I not 
_ give a little pleasure to these good people who approach me 
with such warm sympathies? And why should I tremble 
before them? Did not Paulo tell me that I should feel as 
if I were in my garden, and it was only my trees and flowers 
that were looking at me with human faces? Well, then, I 
will so think and feel, and speak only to my dear trees and 
flowers!” 

Beckoning Carlo with a charming smile, guided by his 
hand, she hastily ascended the steps. And as they saw her 
there upon the stage, this delicate, lovely maiden—as they 
looked upon her spiritual maiden beauty, with the childlike 


808 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


expression of her noble features, with eyes that beamed with 
pleasure and inspiration—there arose such a storm of ap- 
plause that Natalie slightly trembled, and with a sweet 
smile she said to Carlo: “'The people here are much more 
boisterous than the zephyrs in our garden, but they are not 
so melodious, and it almost saddens the heart!” 

Cardinal Bernis now approached with the silver vase. 
On this occasion he had taken it upon himself to collect 
the themes, and with a respectful bow he handed them to 
the princess. With a gracious smile she took one of the 
papers and unfolded it. The subject given was, “ Longing 
for home.” 

That was a theme well calculated to inspire Natalie, and 
to reawaken in her all her longings, sorrows, loves, and re- 
membrances. She suddenly felt something like a cold 
shudder in her heart, and glancing around with a feeling 
of solitude and desertion, she saw nothing but curious faces 
and strange, staring eyes! She, also, was repudiated and 
homeless, and an excessive longing for the distant unknown 
home of her childhood now took possession of her. 

Perhaps Carlo had read her thoughts upon her brow; 
low and plaintive melodies poured from his harp, as it were 
the rustling murmurs of far-off remembrances, the sighing 
and sobbing of a yearning heart. And Natalie, carried 
away by these tones, forgetful of all around her, mindful 
only of the happiness of her childhood and of the lady she 
had so dearly loved, began to sing. 

Of what she said and what she sang she was uncon- 
scious. She stood there as if elevated by inward inspira- 
tion; her eyes flashed as she stared into the far distance, 


. =e 


ee ee ae yt Te ee Se ea Oe 


' THE IMPROVISATRICE. 309 


and the images she saw there caused her to smile and weep 
at the same time; all the glow, all the childlike purity of 
her soul, came in words from her lips in a stream of inspira- 
tion, of painful ecstasy ! 

She saw nothing, heard nothing! She saw not the 
ladies weeping with emotion, not the rapturous glances of 
the men; she had entirely forgotten all those strange, un- 
known people; and when the constantly increasing storm 
of applause finally reminded her of them, it was all over 
with her inspiration—the words died upon her lips, and 
with a sad smile she hastened the conclusion. 

And now arose a shout and an outbreak of rapture 
which caused Natalie to tremble with anxious timidity. 
She cast a searching glance around her; it seemed to her 
that Paulo must come to her relief, that he must rescue and 
redeem her from the enthusiastic and flattering men who 
surrounded her. She saw him not! Where was Paulo, 
where was Carlo? These inquisitive lord cardinals had 
formed a circle around her, she seemed to herself a pris- 
oner; it alarmed her to thus find herself the central point 
of all these attractions. 

Not far from her stood Corilla, with glowing cheeks and 
anger-flashing eyes. 

“JT will avenge this affront or die!” thought she, as, 
grasping Albani’s hand with convulsive violence, she whis- 
pered to him: “ Free me from this woman, and I will realize 
all your wishes.” 

Francesco Albani smiled. ‘Then you are mine, Corilla, 
and no power on earth shall take you from me. That child 
is dead. See, see how she makes herself a path through the 


310 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


crowd—ah, it is too sultry for her here in the hall, she 
approaches the garden door, she slips out. Ah, give me 
your hand, Corilla. Yet a few moments and the fairest 
woman on earth is mine!” 

Light as a gazelle, timid and trembling, Natalie had fled 
the crowd, and now, stepping out into the garden, she 
breathed easier, it seeming to her that she had escaped a 
danger. 

“This night air will cool and refresh me, and I shall 
soon succeed in finding Paulo,” thought she, constantly 
wandering farther and farther into the garden. But the 
brightness of the illuminated alleys annoyed her. A more 
obscure and secluded path opening, Natalie entered it. Ah, 
she needed solitude and stillness, and what knew she, this 
simple, harmless child of Nature—what knew she whether 
it was proper and seemly for a young woman thus alone to 
venture into these dark walks? She knew not that she 
incurred any risk, or that one needed protection among 
people! 

Even farther resounded the noise of the festival—the 
clang of the music sounded fainter and fainter. Natalie 
wandered farther and farther, happy because alone! 

Alone? What, then, was it that noiselessly and cau- 
tiously haunted her steps, following every movement she 
made, constantly nearing her the farther she found herself, 
as she supposed, from all other living beings? What was 
it inaudibly creeping through the bushes, even its dark 
shadow imperceptible, that followed her like a ghost? 

It became stiller and stiller, and nearer crept the gloomy 
form that lurked in her steps. Now with a sudden spring 


ee ee Ee ee oe <r 
_ 


THE IMPROVISATRICE,. 311 


he rushes upon the maiden. What gleams in his hand? 
It is a dagger. He swings it high, that he may sink it 
deep. Then some one rushes from the bushes, seizes the 
murderer’s arm, wrests the dagger from his hand, hurls 
him to the earth, and a dear, well-known voice cries: “ Fly, 
Natalie, fly quickly to Count Paulo! This serpent will no 
longer follow you! I have him fast, the assassin ! ” 

And Carlo broke out into a happy and triumphant 
laugh. 

Natalie made no answer, she was paralyzed with terror; 
there was a roaring in her ears, it darkened before her eyes, 
and she fell senseless to the earth! 

But her disarmed murderer sought to free himself from 
Carlo’s grasp. Struggling with his captor, he finally suc- 
ceeded in half rising. Carlo thought not of his own danger, 
but only of Natalie’s, and it was only on her account that 
he now loudly called for help, at the same time exerting a 
superhuman strength to hold on upon his prisoner. 

Voices were heard, lights approached, and Paulo’s cry of 
anguish resounded. 

“Here, here!” anxiously cried Carlo, his strength al- 
ready beginning to fail him. And his call being recognized, 
people soon came with lights. Count Paulo was already 
distinguishable, already Cardinal Bernis, with a light in his 
hand, was hastening on in advance of the rest. 

With a last powerful effort the prisoner succeeded in 
freeing himself. 

“She is saved for this time, but my dagger will yet 
make her acquaintance!” said he, with a scornful laugh, 
and like a serpent he glided away among the bushes. 


312 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


“She is saved!” cried Carlo, sinking back toward 
Count Paulo, and pointing with a happy smile to Natalie, 
who, awaking from her momentary stupefaction, stretched 
forth her arms toward the count. 

“ Paulo,” she whispered low, “let us hasten from here! 
I dread these people! I fear them! Let us go! But take 
him with us, that they may not kill him, my saviour, my 
friend Carlo!” — 


CHAPTER XXXII. 


THE DEPARTURE. 


THE morning dawned. Count Paulo rose from the 
arm-chair in which he had passed the night. He had oc- 
cupied the whole fearfully anxious night in writing; he 
now laid the pen aside and stond up. 

His face had an expression of firmness and decision; he 
had formed a firm resolution, had come to an irrevocable 
determination. 

With a firm step advancing to the door opening into 
the adjoining chamber, he called to his friend Cecil. 

The latter immediately made his appearance, and, enter- 
ing the count’s chamber, laconically said : “ All is ready.” 

Count Paulo smiled sadly. ‘You are then sure there 
are no other means of saving her and ourselves?” he 
asked. } 

“None whatever,” said Cecil. ‘Every moment’s delay 
increases her and your danger. The occurrence of last 
night is a proof of it. They sought the death of Natalie— 








ee ee 


THE DEPARTURE. 313 


without Carlo’s help she would have been murdered, and 
aii our plans would have come to an end.” 

“ Her life is threatened, and yet you can urge me to go 
and leave her here alone and unprotected ? ” 

“ Was it you who saved her from the danger of last 
night?” asked Cecil. ‘“ Believe me, it is your presence that 
threatens her with the most danger. Precisely because you 
are at her side, they suspect her and watch her every step ; 
the circumstance that she is with you creates distrust, and 
in Natalie they will think they see her whose mysteri- 
ous flight has long been known in Russia. And Catharine 
will have her tracked in all countries and upon all routes. 
Therefore, save Natalie, by seeming to give her up. Return 
home and relate to them a fable of a false princess by 
whom you had been deceived, and whom you abandoned as 
soon as you discovered the deception. They will every- 
where lend you a believing ear, as people gladly believe 
what they wish, and by this means only can you assure the 
future of Natalie and yourself.” 

“That is all just and true. I myself have so seen and 
recognized it,” said the count; “and yet, my friend, I 
nevertheless still waver, and it seems to me that an internal 
voice warns me against that which I am about to do!” 

Cecil smilingly shook his head. “Trust not such 
voices,” said he; “it is the whispering of demons who 
envelop themselves in our own wishes, who entice us to 
what we would, by seeming to warn us against what we 
fear. Nothing but your departure can give you safety. 
Leave Natalie here in quiet solitude, and without you she 


will be well concealed in the solitude of this garden, and 
21 


314 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


you, in the mean time, will pursue your affairs in Russia, 
and deceive the enemy, while you yourself seem to be the 
deceived party. They threaten you with the confiscation 
of your property, and they will fulfil those threats if you do 
not obey the call of the government. Go, therefore, go! 
We will secretly sell your property; and when this is ac- 
complished, then, laden with treasure, let us return to 
Natalie, no longer fearing their threats.” 

“ And when all this is done,” exclaimed Count Paulo, 
glowing, “it shall be our task to conduct Natalie back in 
triumph to the country to which she belongs, there to place 
the diadem upon her fair brows, and to raise her above all 
other mortal beings!” 

“God grant us the attainment of our ends!” sighed 
Cecil. 

“We must and shall attain them!” responded Paulo, 
with enthusiasm. “I must fulfil this great task of my life, 
or die! Away, now, with all wavering or hesitation! What 
must be, shall be! They shall not say of the man whoa 
took compassion upon the deserted and threatened orphan 
and raised her for his objects, that he gave up his plans on 
account of his own egotistical wishes, and pusillanimously — 
failed to finish the work he began! No, no, history shall 
not so speak of me. It shall at least represent me as a 
brave man capable of sacrificing his heart and his life for 
the attainment of his higher ends! Seal these letters, 
Cecil. They contain my last will, and my bequest to Nata- 
lie, which I wish to place in her own hands. Ah, Cecil, I 
have been an enthusiastic fool until this hour! I thought 
—alas, what did I not think and dream!—I thought that 











el i a a ci | 


Se 


THE DEPARTURE. 315 


all these plans and objects were not worth so much as one 
sole smile of her lips, and that if she would say to me ‘I 
love thee,’ this sweet word would not be too dearly pur- 
chased with an imperial crown. Perhaps, ah, perhaps, I 
think so yet, but I will never more suffer myself to be 
swayed by such thoughts. We must go—Natalie’s happi- 
ness demands it. And besides, she will not lack friends 
and protectors. It was not without an object that I last 
evening presented her to the most notable people of Rome; 
not without an object that I consented to her showing her- 
self as a poetess. They now know her name, which is 
repeated with highest praise in every quarter of the city; 
all Rome is to-day enthusiastic in her praise, and all Rome 
will protect and defend her. Add to which, I shall yet rec- 
ommend her to the special protection of Cardinal Bernis!” 

“ And it was exactly in his house where she was almost 
murdered!” said Cecil. “ Without that singer, Carlo, 
she would have been forever lost! If, then, you would 
choose a protector for her, let it be Carlo.” 

Count Paulo’s brow darkened. “ This singer loves her!” 
said he. 

“ Precisely for that reason,” smilingly responded Cecil. 
“One who loves will best know how to protect her.” 

Count Paulo made no answer; he continued thought- 
fully walking back and forth. Then he said with de- 
cision: “Seal these letters, Cecil. I will take them to 
Natalie myself.” 

“You will, then, see her again?” asked Cecil, while 
folding the letters. “You will render the parting more 
painful !” 


316 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


“J will it!” said Paulo, with decision, and, taking 
the letters, he left the room with a firm and resolute 
step. 

He found Natalie in her room. She did not hear 
him coming, and thus did not turn to receive him. She 
was sitting motionless at the window and dejectedly look- 
‘ing out into the garden, her head supported by her 
hand. On | 

The events of the previous evening had made a great 
change in her. She now felt older, more experienced, 

more earnest. A dark shadow had passed over her sun- 
bright happiness, a dark power had threateningly ap- 
proached her; the seriousness of life had been suddenly 
unfolded to her and had brushed off the ether-dust of 
harmless and joyful peace from her childish soul. The 
happy child had become a conscious maiden, and new 
thoughts, new feelings had sprung up within her. The 
first tears of sorrow had, with a mighty creative power, 
called all these slumbering blossoms of her heart into ex- 
istence and activity, and her unconscious feelings had be- 
come conscious thoughts. 

But what had not happened, what had she not experienced 
~ and felt since last evening? First, had not a new happi- 
ness broken in upon her, had she not now a name, was she 
- not a princess? Then, had she not achieved a triumph—a 
triumph in the presence of Corilla? But then, also, how 
many desillusions had she not experienced in a few hours? 
How had her heart been cooled by the rich flow of words - 
in Corilla’s poesy! Her whole soul had languished for the 
acquaintance of a poetess, and she had heard only a rhymed 


Fe a a ee a, 


eS er, 


——— ee ee ee eee 





THE DEPARTURE. 317 


work of art. And then the last terrible event! Why had 
they wished to murder her? Who were her unknown 
enemies, and why had she enemies? 

“T should have been dead had he not rescued me!” 
murmured she, and her lovely face was illuminated by a 
sunny smile. “ Yes, without Carlo I should have been lost 
—I have to thank him for my life! Oh,” said she then 
aloud, “to him therefore belongs my existence, and for 
every joy I am yet capable of feeling I am indebted to him, 
my friend Carlo! Ah, how shall I ever be able to reward 
him for all this happiness?” 

And while she was thus speaking, Count Paulo, pale 
and silent, stood behind her; she saw him not, and after a 
pause she continued: “ How strange it is! To-day, when 
I think of him, my heart beats as never before, and I feel 
in it something like heavenly bliss, and yet at the same 
time like profound sorrow. Ah, what can it be, and why 
do I, to-day, think only of him? I could weep because he 
does not yet come! How strange it all is, and at the same 
time how sad! Seems it not to me that I love Carlo more 
than any one else, more even than Paulo, who formerly was 
the dearest to me? How is it now, and am I, then, really 
so ungrateful to Paulo?” 

Count Paulo still stood behind her, pale and silent. A 
painfully ironic smile flitted over his face, and he thought: 
“T came to ask a question, and Natalie has already given 
me the answer before I had time to ask it. Perhaps it is 
better thus. I have now nothing to ask!” 

The young maiden became more and more deeply ab- 
sorbed in her thoughts. Count Paulo laid his hand lightly 


318 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


upon her shoulder. She was startled, and involuntarily 
cried, “* Carlo!” 

“No, Paulo!” said he, with a melancholy smile, “ but at 
all events a friend, Natalie, though a friend who is about to 
leave you!” 

“You leave me?” she anxiously exclaimed. 

“ That means only outwardly, only with my body, never 
with my soul,” said he, deeply moved. ‘“ That, Natalie, will 
remain with you eternally, that will never leave you—do 
you hear, never! Always remember this, my charming 
child, my sweet blossom! Never entertain a doubt of me; 
and if my voice does not reach you, if you receive no news 
of me, then think not, ‘Paulo has abandoned me!’ no; 
then think only, ‘ Paulo is dead, but my name was the last 
to linger upon his lips, and his last sigh was for me!’ ” 

“You desert me?” said she, wringing her hands. 
“ What am I, what shall I do, without you? You have 
been my protector and my reliance, my teacher and my 
friend! Alas, you were all to me, and I have ever looked 
up to you as my lord and father.” 

Count Paulo sadly smiled. “Love me always as your 
father,” said he; ‘‘ while I live yon shall never be an or- 
phan, that I swear to you!” 

“ And must you go,” cried she, clinging to him; “ well, 
then let me go with you! You will be my father—well, I 
demand my right as your daughter; to accompany her 
father is a daughter’s right.” 

“No,” he firmly said, “you must remain while I go; 
but I go for you, to assure your future power and splendor. 
Remember this, Princess Natalie, forget it not; and when 





THE DEPARTURE. 319 


one day they brand me as a traitor, then say: ‘ No, he was 
no traitor, for he loved me!’ And now hear what I have 
yet to say,” continued the count, after a pause, while the 
still weeping Natalie looked up to him through her tears. 
“ But look at me, Natalie—no, not that sad glance, I can- 
not bear it! Leave me my self-possession and my courage, 
for I need them! Weep not!” 

And Natalie, drying her eyes with her long locks, sought 
to smile. 

“T no longer weep,” said she, “I listen to you.” 

Paulo placed two sealed letters in her hand. 

“ Swear to me,” said he, “to hold these letters sacred as 
your most precious possession.” 

“I swear it!” said she. 

** Swear to me to discover them to no human eye, to be- 
tray their possession to no human ear! Swear it to me by 
the memory of your mother, who now looks down from 
heaven upon you and receives your oath!” 

“Then she is dead?” said the young maiden, sadly 
drooping her head upon her breast. 

“You have not yet sworn!” said he. 

The young maiden raised her head, and, turning her 
eyes toward heaven as if in the hope of encountering the 
tender maternal glance, she solemnly said: “ By the sacred 
memory of my mother I swear to discover these papers to 
no human eye, to betray their existence to no human ear, 
but to hold them sacred as my most precious and mysterious 
treasure !” | 

“ Swear, further” said Count Paulo, “that whenever a 
danger may threaten you, you will sooner forget all other 


320 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


things than these papers, that they shall be the first which 
you will endeavor to save. Yes, swear to me that you will 
ever bear them upon your heart and never permit them to 
be separated from you!” 

“T swear it!” said Natalie. “I will defend the posses- 
: sion of these papers, if necessary, with my life!” 

* And thereby will you defend your honor,” said Paulo, 
‘‘for your honor rests in these papers. Yet ask me not 
what they contain. You must not yet know; there is dan- 
ger in knowing their contents! But when a whole year 
has passed without my return or your hearing from me, and 
if in this whole year no messenger comes to you from me, 
then, Natalie, then open these letters; you will then pos- 
sess my testament, and you will consider it a sacred duty to 
execute it!” 

Natalie, sobbing, said: “Ah, why did not that dagger 
pierce my heart yesterday? I should then have died while 
I was yet happy?” 

“You will yet do so!” said Count Paulo, with a slight 
tincture of bitterness; “ Carlo and your future yet remain 
to you!” 

She looked at him with a clear, bright glance, but with- 
out answering. She had again become an enigma to her- 
self. Now, when her friend, when Paulo, was about to 
leave her, it seemed to her she had done wrong to love an- 
other, even for a moment, better than him, her benefactor 
and protector; indeed, as if she in fact loved no one so well 
as him, as if she could resign and leave all others to insure 
Paulo’s permanent presence! 

But she was suddenly startled, and a glowing flush over- 


- 
i 
+ 
; 


i 


ee a 


ee ae 


—“L - 


eS NS et 





THE DEPARTURE. 391 


spread her cheeks. She had, quite accidentally, glanced 
through the window into the garden, and had there discoy- 
ered Carlo, as with slow and hesitating steps he descended 
the alley leading to the villa. 

Count Paulo had followed her glance, and, as he now 
observed the singer, he said: “ He shall henceforth be your 
protector! Promise me to love him as a brother. Will 
you?” 

He looked at her with a fixed and searching gaze, and 
she cast not down her eyes before that penetrating and in- 
terrogating glance, but met it directly with clear and inno- 
cent eyes. 

* Yes, I will love him as a brother!” she said. 

“One thing more, and then let us part!” said Paulo. 
“ Marianne is honest and true—let her never leave you. I 
have amply provided her with funds for the necessary ex- 
penses for the next six months, and I hope long before the 
expiration of that time to send a further supply. If I do 
not, then conclude I am dead, for only with my life can I be 
robbed of the sweet duty of caring for you! And now let 
me go to Carlo!” 

Slightly nodding to her, he hastily left the room. 

At that moment Carlo mounted the steps leading to the 
door of the villa. Paulo met him with a hearty greeting. 

“Tet us go down into the garden,” said he, “I have 
many things to say to you.” 

The two men remained a long time in the garden. 
Natalie, standing at the window, occasionally saw them, 
arm in arm, at some turning of the walks, and then they 
would again disappear as they pursued their way in earnest 


322 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


conversation. Strange thoughts flitted through the soul of 
the young maiden, and when she saw the two thus wander- 
ing, arm in arm, she thoughtfully asked herself: “ Which 
is it, then, that I most love? Is it Carlo, is it Paulo?” 

“ T now understood you perfectly,” said Count Paulo, as 
_ they again approached the house after a long and earnest 
conversation. ‘“ Yes, it seems to me I know you as myself, 
and know I can confide in you. You have perfectly tran- 
quillized me, and I thank you for your confidence. It was 
then Corilla, that vain improvisatrice, who would have 
destroyed her? That is consoling, and I can now depart 
with a lighter heart. Against such attacks you will be able 
to protect her.” 

“JT will protect her against every attack,” responded 
Carlo. “ You have my oath that the secret you have con- 
fided to me shall be held sacred, and you have thereby 
secured her from every outbreak of my passion. She stands 
so high above me that I can only adore her as my saint, 
can love her only as one loves the unattainable stars!” 





CHAPTER XXXIITI. 


AN HONEST BETRAYER. 


At about the same time Cecil was hastening through . 
the streets of Rome, often looking back to see if any one 
was following him, and viewing with suspicious eyes every 
one whom he met. He finally stopped before the backdoor 
of a palace, and, after having satisfied himself that he had 


—— 
o™ 


on ae Oe Cee oe a eS SN Ce a 





AN HONEST BETRAYER, 323 


not been followed, he lightly knocked three times at the 
door. Upon its being opened, a grim, bearded Russian 
face presented itself. 

Cecil drew a ring from his bosom and showed it to the 
porter. 

“ Quick! conduct me to his excellency,” said he. 

The Russian nodded his recognition of the token, and 
beckoned Cecil to follow him. After a short reflection, 
Cecil entered and the door was closed. 

Guided by his conductor through a labyrinth of rooms 
and corridors, Cecil finally succeeded in reaching a little 
boudoir, whose heavily-curtained windows hardly admitted 
a ray of dim twilight. 

The conductor, bidding Cecil to wait here, left him 
alone. 

In a few moments a concealed door was opened, and a 
man of a tall, proud form entered. 

“ At length!” he said, on perceiving Cecil. “I had 
begun to doubt your coming.” 

“T waited until I could bring you decisive intelligence, 
your excellency,” said Cecil. 

* And you bring it to-day?” quickly asked the unknown. 

“In an hour we leave Rome for St. Petersburg!” 

Uttering a loud cry of joy, the stranger walked the 
room in visible commotion. Cecil followed him with 
timid, anxious glances, and, as he still kept silence, Cecil 
said : 

“Your excellency, I have truly performed what you 
required of me. I have persuaded the count to make the 
journey, notwithstanding his opposition to it, and, as you 


824 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


commanded, his ward remains behind in Rome, alone and 
unprotected.” 

*“ Ah, you praise your acts because you desire your 
reward,” said his excellency, contemptuously opening his 
writing-desk, and drawing forth a well-filled purse. “ You 
there have your pay, good man!” 

Cecil indignantly rejected the money. “Iam no Judas, 
who betrays his master for money,” said he. “ Please 
remember, your excellency, for what I promised to fulfil 
your excellency’s commands, and what reward you promised 
me!” | 

“Ah, I now remember! You required my promise 
that no harm should befall the count!” 

* Only on that condition did I promise my assistance,” 
said Cecil. ‘“ When your emissary sought me and called me 
to you, I only followed him, as you well know, most noble 
count, because you gave me to understand that my master’s 
life and safety were concerned. I came to you. Allow me, 
your excellency, to repeat your own words. You said: 
‘Cecil, you have been represented to me as a true friend of 
your master. Fidelity is so rare a virtue, that it deserves 
reward. I will reward you by saving your life. Quickly 
leave this traitorous count, and break off all connection with 
him, else you are lost. I am secretly sent here in order to 
capture the count and his criminal ward, and take them to 
St. Petersburg. What there awaits the count may easily be 
imagined.’ Thus speaking, your excellency then showed 
me the command for the count’s arrest, signed by the em- 
press. Upon which I asked: ‘Is there no means of saving 
the count?’ ‘There is one,’ said you. ‘ Persuade the count 


AN HONEST BETRAYER. 825 


to return immediately to St. Petersburg, leaving his ward 
behind him here, and I swear to you, in the name of the 
empress, that no harm shall come to him.’” 

“ Well,” impatiently cried the count, “ what is the use of 
repeating all that, as I know it already?” 

“ Only because your excellency seems to forget that what. 
I did was not done for your miserable gold, but for a totally 
different reward—the safety of a man whom I love as my 
own son.” 

“You have my word—no harm shall come to him.” 

“T doubt not your excellency’s word,” firmly and de- 
cidedly responded Cecil, “your word is all-powerful, and 
when you let your commanding voice be heard, all Rus- 
sia trembles and bows before you. But here your voice 
resounds only between these walls, and nobody hears it. 
but I alone. Give me an evidence of your word—a safety- 
pass, signed by your own hand, for my master, and then 
destroy the order for his arrest which you now hold!” 

“ Ah, it seems you would prescribe conditions?” said 
the count, proudly. 

“Certainly I will,” said Cecil. “I have complied with 
your conditions, and now it is your turn, Sir Count, to com- 
ply with mine, for you knew them before!” 

A dark glow of anger showed itself in the count’s face, 
and, passionately starting up, he approached Cecil, raising 
his arm threateningly against him. 

“Sir Count,” said Cecil, stepping back, “you mistake! 
I am no Russian serf, I am a free man, and no one has a 
right so to threaten me!” 

The count had already let his arm fall, seeming suddenly 


396 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


to have changed his mind, and in a more friendly manner 
he said : 

“You are right, Cecil, and what you desire shall be 
done.” 

Taking a large sealed paper from a drawer in his writ- 

ing-desk, he handed it to Cecil. 
. ‘That is the order for the arrest; destroy it yourself!” 
said he. 

Taking the paper, Cecil read it with attention. “It is, 
as you say, the order for the arrest. It is destroyed !” 

With a satisfied smile, he tore the paper into a thousand 
pieces, and placed these in his bosom. 

The count had stepped to the table and hastily written 
a few lines upon another piece of paper. This he handed 
to Cecil. “I hope you are now satisfied,” said he. 

Cecil took the paper and read it. 

“ This is a safety-pass in due form,” said he—“ a valid 
instruction to all boundary guards and officials to let us pass 
without molestation. Your excellency, we are quits. I 
complied with your wish, as you now have with mine, and 
my dear master is saved!” 

“Tt being understood that you start immediately,” said 
the count. : 

“The post-horses are already ordered, and we shall set 
out as soon as I return home. Farewell, therefore, Sir 
Count; I thank you for enabling me to save the man whom 
I most loved. I thank you!” : 

Cecil was approaching the door, when he suddenly 
stopped, and his face took a sad expression. “I have de- 
ceived my dear master, in order to save him,” said he, “ and 


Se 


AN HONEST BETRAYER. 327 


in order to redeem the promise I made his father on his 
death-bed, swearing that I would watch over and protect 
the son at the risk of my heart’s blood. But if the son 
knew what I have done, he would call me a betrayer and 
curse me, for he holds his ward dearer than his own life! 
He leaves the princess in the belief that it is necessary 
for her safety, and repairs to Russia, to return with in- 
creased wealth. Sir Count, what is to become of Natalie?” 

“That,” low and mysteriously replied the count, “that 
can be decided only by the will of her who has sent me. 
Until that decision no hair of her head can be touched, 
and the princess will follow me to Russia, only with her own 
free will! But you must know that the empress hates no 
one more than her own son. How, then, if she should be 
disposed to pass him over, and select another as her succes- 
sor?” | 

“Oh, would to God that I rightly understand you!” 
exclaimed Cecil. 

“We shall, one day, perfectly understand each other,” 
said the count, with a significant smile. ‘ Now, hasten to 
redeem your word, and leave Rome with your master!” 

As soon as Cecil left the room, the count’s face assumed 


a knavishly malicious expression. With a loud laugh he 


threw himself upon the silken divan. 

“ Thus are all these so-called good men real blockheads, 
stupid fools, who believe every word spoken to them with a 
friendly mien! This honest man really believes that his 
highly-prized master is now saved, because he bears in his 
bosom the fragments of the order for his arrest Worthy 
dunce; as if there were no duplicate, and as if every prom- 


628 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


ise were countersigned by the Divinity himself: Go home 
with your count—my word shall be fulfilled. No hair of 
his head shall be touched, but his proud back shall be 
curled, and in the mines of Siberia he may learn to bow be- 
fore a higher power!” 

Thus speaking, the count pulled a bell whose silken 
cord hung over the divan, and, as no one instantly appeared, 
he pulled it again, this time more violently. But yet some 
minutes passed, and still the bell was unanswered. The 
count gnashed his teeth with rage, and muttered vehement 
curses. 

At length the door opened, and with an imploring face 
a servant appeared upon the threshold. 

“Miserable hound, where were you?” cried the count 
to him. 

The servant fell upon his knees and crept like a dog to 
his master’s feet. 

“ Excellency, we had, as your grace commanded, so long 
as the gentleman was with you, withdrawn from the ante- 
room and waited in the corridor, where the bell could not. 
be heard,”’ stammered the servant. ¢ 

“J will teach you wretches to keep me waiting,” ex- 
claimed the count, and seizing the knout that lay upon the 
table before him, he laid it with merciless rage upon the 
poor servant, until his own arm sank powerless, and he felt. 
himself exhausted with fatigue. 

“Now go, you hound!” said he, replacing the knout 
upon the table; and the flagellated serf, rising respectfully, 
with his hand wiped away the blood which ran in streams 
from his wounds. 





AN HONEST BETRAYER. 399 


“ Now go and send my officers to me!” cried the count. 
‘The servant staggered out to obey the command, and soon 
the persons thus ordered made their appearance and re- 
mained standing in silence at the door. 

The count lay stretched out upon the divan, playing 
with the knout, whose leathern thongs were still dripping 
with his servant’s blood. 

“Leta courier take horse immediately, and give him 
the order countersigned by her imperial majesty for the 
arrest of Count Paulo Rasczinsky. The courier will follow 
him with it to the Russian frontier, and then by virtue of 
this order arrest him at the next station and send him to 
St. Petersburg in chains! This is the command for the 
courier; he will answer with his head for its execution!” 

One of the officers bowed, and went to dispatch the 
courier. 

“Ts our reconnoitrer returned?” asked the count of the 
two who remained. 

“ He is.” 

“What news brirgs he? Does he know the cause of 
the murderous attack at the festival of the French cardi- 
nal? Yet why dol ask you? Make yourselves scarce, and 
let him come to speak for himself!” 

The officers were no sooner gone, than a wild-looking, 
bearded churl made his appearance upon the threshold of 
the door and greeted the count with a grinning laugh. 

“ What know you of the murderous attack?” asked the 
count, in Italian. 

“A friend of mine was charged with the affair,” said 


the bravo. “He is in the pay of the most holy Cardinal 
22 


330 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


Albani. We served long together under the same chief, 
and I know him intimately. He carries the most skilful 
dagger in all Rome, and it is the greatest wonder that he 
missed on this occasion.” 

‘*‘ Was it done by order of the cardinal ?” 

“No! The lord cardinal had lent this bravo to the 
celebrated improvisatrice Corilla—the order came from 
her.” 

“Tt is well!” said the count. “Do you know all the 
bravi in Rome?” 

“ All, your excellency. They are all my good friends.” 

“ Well, now listen to what I have to say to you. You 
must hold the life of the Princess Tartaroff as sacred as 
your own! Know that she is no moment unwatched; 
that wherever she appears she is surrounded by secret pro- 
tectors. Whoever touches her is lost—my arm will reach 
him! Say that to your friends, and tell them that the ~ 
Russian count keeps his word. Four thousand sequins are 
yours in four weeks, if until then the princess meets with 
no accident. Away with you, and forget not my words!” 

“ Ah, these words, your excellency, are worth four thou- 
sand sequins, and these one does not so easily forget!” said 
the bandit, leaving the room. 

Again the count rang, and ordered his private secretary, 
Stephano, to be called. 

“Stephano,” said the count to him, “the first step is 
taken toward the accomplishment of our object. The work 
must succeed; I have pledged my word for it to the em- 
press, and who can say that Alexis Orloff ever failed to re- 
deem his word? This princess is mine! Count Paulo 


AN HONEST BETRAYER. 331 


Rasczinsky is just now leaving Rome, and she has no one to 
protect her!” 

“ But it is not yet to be said that she is already yours!” 
said Stephano, shrugging his shoulders. “As you will not 
employ force, your excellency, you must have recourse to 
stratagem. I have hit upon a plan, of which I think you 
will approve. They describe this so-called little princess as 
exceedingly innocent and confiding. Let us take advan- 
tage of her confiding innocence—that will be best! Now 
hear my plan.” 

Stephano inclined himself closer to the ear of the count, 
and whispered long and earnestly; it seemed as if he feared 
that even the walls might listen to him and betray his 
plans; he whispered so low that even the count had some 
trouble in understanding him. 

“You are right,” said the count, when Stephano had 
ended ; “your plan must and will succeed. First of all, 
we must find some one who will incline her in our favor, 
and render her confiding.” 

“Oh, for that we have our good Russian gold,” said 
Stephano, laughing. 

“ And besides,” continued the count, “ our incognito is 
at anend. All Rome may now learn that Iam here! Ah, 
Stephano, what a happy time awaits me! This Natalie is 
beautiful as an angel!” 

“God grant that you may not fall in love with her!” 
sighed Stephano. “You are always very generous when 
you are in love.” 


332 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


CHAPTER XXXIV. 


ALEXIS ORLOFF. 


Two things principally occupied the Romans during 
the next weeks and months, offering them rich material for 
conversation. In talking of these they had forgotten all 
other events; they spoke no more of the giant fish which 
had destroyed the friendship of France and Spain; they no 
longer entertained each other with anecdotes in connection 
with the festival of Cardinal Bernis, at which the entrée of 
that fish upon his long silver platter was hailed with shouts 
and vivats—yea, even that Russian princess, who had mo- 
mentarily shown herself on the horizon of society, all these 
were quickly forgotten, and people now interested them- 
selves only about the extirpation of the order of the Jesuits, 
which Pope Clement had now really effected, and of the 
arrival of the Russian ambassador-extraordinary, the famous 
Alexis Orloff, whose visit to Rome seemed the more impor- 
tant and significant as they well knew in what near and 
confidential relations his brother, Count Gregory Orloff, - 
stood with the Empress Catharine, and what participation 
Alexis Orloff had in the sudden death of the Emperor 
Peter ITI. 

The order of the Jesuits, then, no longer existed; the 
pious fathers of the order of Jesus were stricken out of the 
book of history; a word of power had annihilated them! 
With loud complaints and lamentations they filled the 
streets of the holy city, and if the prayer of humility and 
resignation resounded from their lips, yet there were very 


a ee 


ALEXIS ORLOFF. 333 


different prayers in their hearts, prayers of anger and rage, 
of hatred and revenge! They were seen wringing their 
hands and loudly lamenting, as they hastened to their 
friends and protectors, and besieged the doors of the foreign 
embassies. With them wept the poor and suffering people 
to whom the pious fathers had proved themselves bene- 
factors. For, since they knew that their existence was 
threatened, they had assiduously devoted themselves to 
works of charity and mercy, and to strengthening, espe- 
cially in Rome, their reputation for piety, benevolence, and 
generosity. Prodigious sums were by them distributed 
among the poor; more than five hundred respectable im- 
poverished Romans, who had been accused of political 
offences, were secretly supported by them. In this way the 
Jesuits, against whom the cry of denunciation had been 
raised for years in all Europe, had nevertheless succeeded, 
at least in the holy city, in gaining for themselves a very 
considerable party, and thus securing protection and sup- 
port in the time of misfortune and persecution. But while 
the people wept with them, and many cardinals and princes 
of the Church secretly pitied them, the ambassadors of the 
great European powers alone remained insensible to their 
lamentations. No one of them opened the doors of their 
palaces to them, no one afforded them protection or con- 
solation; and although it was known that Cardinal Bernis, 
in spite of the horror which had for years been felt of this 
order in France, was personally favorable to them, and had 
long delayed the consent of the court of France to their 
abolition, yet even Bernis now avoided any manifestation of 
kindness for them, lest his formner friend, the Spanish am- 


334 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


bassador, might think he so far humiliated himself as to 
favor the Jesuits for the sake of recovering the friendship 
and good opinion of the Duke of Grimaldi. But Grimaldi 
himself now no longer dared to protect the Jesuits, however 
friendly he might be to them, and however much they were 
favored by Elizabeth Farnese, the Spanish queen-mother. 
King Charles, her son, had finally ventured to defy her 
authority, and in an autograph letter had commanded the 
Duke of Grimaldi to receive no more Jesuits in his palace. 
And while, as we have said, the whole diplomacy had de- 
clared against the order of the holy fathers of Jesus, it must 
have been the more striking that this Russian Count Orloff 
had compassion upon them, that he opened the doors of his 
palace to them, and lent a willing ear to the complaints of 
the unfortunate members of the order. 

This Russian count gave the good Romans much mate- 
rial for reflection and head-shaking ; the women were occu- 
pied with his herculean beauty, and the men with his wild, 
daring, and reckless conduct. They called him a barbarian, 
a Russian bear, but could not help being interested in him, 
and eagerly repeating the littie anecdotes freely circulated 
respecting him. 

They smilingly told that he had been the first who had 
had the courage to defy the powerful republic of Venice, 
which, for recruiting sailors for his fleet in their territories 
for the war against the Turks, wished to banish him from 
proud and beautiful Venice. But Alexis Orloff had laughed 
at the senate of the republic when they sent him the order 
to leave. He had ordered the two hundred soldiers, who 
formed his retinue, to arm themselves, and, if necessary, to 


ALEXIS ORLOFF. 335 


repel force with force; but to the senate he had answered 
that he would leave the city as soon as he pleased, not 
before! But, as it seemed that he was not pleased to leave 
the city, he remained there, and now the angry and indig- 
hant senate sent him the peremptory command to leave 
Venice with his soldiers in twenty-four hours. A deputa- 
fion of the senate came in solemn procession to communi- 
bate to the Russian count this command of the Council of 
Three. Alexis Orloff received them, lying upon his divan, 
and to their solemn address he laughingly answered: “I 
recelve commands from no one but my empress! It re- 
mains as before, that I shall go when I please, and not 
earlier!” 

The senators departed with bitter murmurs and severe 
threats. Count Alexis Orloff remained, and the cowardly 
senate, trembling with fear of this young Russian empire, 
had silently pocketed the humiliation of seeing this over- 
bearing Russian within their walls for several weeks longer.* 
This evidence of the haughty insolence of Count Orloff was 
related among the Romans with undisguised pleasure, and 
they thanked him for having thus humiliated and insulted 
the proud and imperious republic. But they suspiciously 
shook their heads when they learned that he seemed dis- 
posed to display his pride and arrogance in Rome! They 
told of a soirée of the Marchesa di Paduli which Alexis 
Orloff had attended. As they there begged of him to give 
some proof of the very superior strength which had ac- 
quired for him the name of “the Russian Hercules,” he 


* Archenholz, “ Italien,” vol. iv., p. 53. 


336 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


had taken one of the hardest apples from a silver plateau 
that stood upon the table and playfully crushed it with two 
fingers of his left hand. But a fragment of this hard apple 
had hit the eye of the Duke of Gloucester, who was stand- 
ing near, and seriously injured it. The sympathies of the 
whole company were excited for the English prince, and he 
was immediately surrounded by a pitying and lamenting 
crowd. Count Orloff alone had nothing to say to him, and 
not the slightest excuse to make. He smilingly rocked 
himself upon his chair, and hummed a Russian popular 
song in praise of his empress.* 

And was it not also an insult for Alexis Orloff now to 
show himself a friend to the Jesuits, whom the decree of 
God’s vicegerent had outlawed and proscribed? Was it not 
an insult that he loudly and publicly promised to these per- 
secuted Jesuits a kind reception and efficient protection in 
Russia, and invited them to found new communities and 
new Cloisters there ? 

But Alexis Orloff cared little for the dissatisfaction of 
the Romans. He said to his confidant Stephano: “ There 
is no greater pleasure than to set at defiance all the world, 
and to oppose all these things which the stupid people would 
impose upon us as laws. The friend and favorite of the 
Empress Catharine has no occasion for complying with 
such miserable laws; wherever I set my foot, there the 
earth belongs to me, and I will forcibly maintain my pre- 
tensions whenever they are disputed! In Russia I am the 
serf of the empress, in revenge for which I will, at least 


* Gorani, vol. ii., p. 23. 


ALEXIS ORLOFF. 337 


abroad, treat all the world as my serfs. This gives me 
pleasure, and wherefore is the world here but to be en- 
joyed ?” 

“ A little also for labor,” said Stephano, with a sly smile. 

“For that I have my slaves, for that I have also you!” | 
responded Orloff, laughing. “There is only one labor for 
me here in Rome, and that is to create as much disturbance 
as possible in the city; to set the people at odds with the 
government, so that they may have their hands full, and 
find no time for observing our nice game with our little 
princess, or to interfere with it. We must have freedom of 
action, that is the most important. Hence we must protect 
these pious Jesuits, and offer support to the enemies of this 
too-enterprising pope, by which means we shall ultimately 
attain our own ends, and that is enough for us!” 

“We have not yet advanced a step with our Princess 
Natalie,” said Stephano, shrugging his shoulders; “ that, it 
seems, is an impregnable fortress ! ” 

“Tt must, however, yield to us,” laughingly responded 
Alexis Orloff, “and she shall yet acknowledge us as conquer- 
ors. We are undermining, Stephano, and when the build- 
ing crushes her in its crashing fall, will she first discover 
that she has long been in danger. And what said you—that 
we have not yet advanced a step? And yet Rasczinsky is 
gone, and we have known how to keep Cardinal Bernis, who 
would have interested himself for the little one, so very 
much occupied with the affair of the Jesuits, that he has yet 
had no time to think of the princess. Ah, these Jesuits are 
very useful people. We strew them like snuff in the faces 
of these diplomatists, and, while they are yet rubbing their 


338 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, | 


weak eyes and crying out with pain, we shall quietly draw 
our little fish into our net, and take her home without oppo- 
sition !” 

“ And if the fish will not go into the net? ” 

“Tt must go in!” impatiently cried Orloff. “Bah! have 
I at the right time succeeded in towing our emperor, God 
bless him! into eternity, and shall I doubt in the fulness of 
time of enclosing this beautiful child in my arms? Look at 
me, Stephano—what is wanting for it in me? Are not all 
these beautiful women of Rome enraptured with the Russian 
Hercules? How, then, can it be that a woman of my own 
country can withstand me? The preliminaries are the main 
thing, and if we only had some one to prepare her for my 
appearance, all would then go well. And such a one we will 
find, thanks to our rubles! But enough of politics for the 
present, Stephano. Call my valet. It is time for my toilet, 
and that is a very important affair.” 


CHAPTER XXXV. 


CORILLA. 


CoRILLA was alone. Uneasy, full of stormy thoughts, 
she impetuously walked back and forth, occasionally uttering 
single passionate exclamations, then again thoughtfully star- 
ing at vacancy before her. She was a full-blooded, warm 
Italian woman, that will neither love nor hate with the 
whole soul, and nourishes both feelings in her bosom with 
equal strength and with equal warmth. But, in her, hatred 


CORILLA. 339 


exhaled as quickly as love; it was to her only the cham- 
pagne-foam of life, which she sipped for the purpose 
of a slight intoxication—as in her intoxication only did 
she feel herself a poetess, and in a condition for improv- 
isation. 

“JT must at any rate be in love,” said she, “else I 
should lose my poetic fame. With cool blood and a tran- 
quil mind there is no improvising and poetizing. With me 
all must be stirring and flaming, every nerve of my being 
must glow and tremble, the blood must flash like fire 
through my veins, and the most glowing wishes and ardent 
longings, be it love or be it hate, must be stirring within 
me in order to poetize successfully. And this cannot be 
comprehended by delicate and discreet people; this low 
Roman populace even venture to call me a coquette, only 
because I constantly need a new glow, and because I con- 
stantly seek new emotions and new inspirations for my 
muse.” 

Love, then, for the improvisatrice Corilla, was nothing 
more than a strong wine with which she refreshed and 
strengthened her fatigued poetic powers for renewed ex- 
ertions; it was in a manner the tow which she threw upon 
the expiring fire of her fantasy, to make it flash up in 
clear and bright flames. 

It was only in this way that she loved Carlo, and wept 


for him, except that in this case her love had been of a 


longer duration, because it was he who gave up and left 
her! That was what made her hatred so glowing, that 
was what made her seek the life of the woman for whom 
Carlo had deserted her. 


340 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


' & This is a new situation,” said she, “ which I am called 
to live through and to feel. But a poetess must have ex- 
perienced. all feelings, or she could not describe them. 
For my part, I do not believe in the revelations of genius— 
I believe only in experiences. One can describe only what 
one has felt and experienced. Whoever may attempt to 
describe the flavor of an orange, must first have tasted 
it!” . 

That this attempt to murder Natalie had failed, was to 
her a matter of little moment. She had experienced the 
emotion of it, and just the same would it have been a mat- 
ter of indifference to her had the dagger pierced Natalie’s 
breast—she was sufficiently a child of the South to consider 
a murder as only a venial sin, for which the priest could 
grant absolution. 

There was only one thing which exclusively occupied 
Corilla, following and tormenting her day and night, and 
that was her poetic fame. She desired that her name 
should stand high in the world, glorified by all Europe, 
and for this purpos she desired above all things to be 
crowned as a poetess in the capitol of the holy city; for 
this fame she would willingly have given many years of her 
life. 

That was the aim of all her efforts, and how much 
would she not have borne, ventured, and suffered for its 
attainment! How many intrigues were planned, how 
much cunning and dissimulation, flattery, and hypocrisy, 
had been employed for that purpose, and all, all as yet in 
vain ! | 

Therefore it was that Corilla now wept, and with occa 





CORILLA. 344 


sional outbreaks of passionate exclamations violently paced 
her room. Her cheeks glowed, her eyes flashed—she was 
very beautiful in this state of excitement. That she must 
have acknowledged to herself as her glance accidentally 
encountered her own face in the glass. 

With a smile of satisfaction she remained standing be- 
fore the mirror, and almost angrily she said : 

*“ Ah, why am I now alone, why does no one see me in 
my beautiful glow? My face might now produce some 
effect, and gain me friends! Why, then, am I now alone?” 

But it seems that Corilla had only to express a wish in 
order to see it suddenly fulfilled; for the door was at that 
moment opened, and a servant announced Count Alexis 
Orloff. 

Corilla smiled with delight, and let that smile remain 
upon her lips, as she very well knew it was becoming 
to her, and that she had conquered many hearts with it; 
but secretly her heart throbbed with fear, and timidly she 
asked herself, “ What can that Russian count want of 
me?” 

But with a cheerful face she advanced to receive him; 
she seemed not to remark that a dark cloud lay upon his 
brow, and that his features bore an almost threatening ex- 
pression. 

“ He is a barbarian,” thought she, and barbarians must 
be treated differently from other men. I must flatter this 
lion, in order to fetter him!” 

“Tt is a serious matter that brings me to you, signora,’ 
said Alexis, gloomily. 

“ A serious matter?” she cheerfully asked. “Ah, then 


> 


342 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


T pity you, count. It is difficult to speak with me of seri- 
ous matters!” 

“You rather do them!” said Alexis, carelessly throwing’ 
himself upon a divan. “You would not play with such 
serious things as, for instance, a dagger, and therefore you 
hurl it from you, altogether indifferent whether you there-- 
by quite accidentally pierce the heart of another.” 

“TJ do not understand you, count,” said Corilla, without 
embarrassment, but at the same time she looked at him 
with such a charming and enticing expression, that Alexis 
involuntarily smiled. 

“J will make myself intelligible to you,” said he, in a 
milder tone. “You must understand, that I know you, 
Corilla. That assassin who followed the Princess Tartaroff 
at the festival of Cardinal Bernis, was employed by you, 
Signora Maddalena Morelli Fernandez, called Corilla!” 

“ And what if it were true, Signor Alexis Orloff, called 
the handsome Northern Hercules?” asked she, roguishly 
imitating his grave seriousness. “If it were really true, 
what further?” 

Alexis looked in her face with an expression of astonish- 
ment. “You are wonderfully bold!” said he. 

‘None but slaves are without courage!” responded she. 
“ Freedom is the mother of boldness!” 

“ You do not, then, deny the hiring of that bravo?” 

“T only deny your right to inquire,” said she. 

“JT have a right to it,” he responded with vehemence. 
“This Princess Tartaroff is a subject of the Empress of 
Russia, my mistress, who watches over and protects all her 
subjects with maternal tenderness.” 





CORILLA. 343 


“That good, tender empress!” exclaimed Corilla, with 
an ambiguous smile. “But in order properly to watch and 
preserve all her children and subjects, she should keep 
them in her own country. Take this Princess Tartaroff with 
you to Russia, and then she will be safe from our Italian 
daggers. Take her with you; that will be the best way!” 

“ You, then, very heartily hate this poor little princess ?” 
asked Alexis, laughing. 

“Yes,” said she, after a short reflection, “I hate her. 
And would you know why, signor? Not for her beauty, 
not for her youth, but for her talents! And she has great 
talents! Ah, there was a time when I hated her, although 
I knew her not. But now, now it is different. I now not 
only hate, but fear her! For she can rival me, not only in 
love, but in fame! Ah, you should have seen her on that 
evening! She was like a swan to look at, and her song 
was like the dying strains of the swan. And all shouted 
applause, and all the women wept; indeed, I myself wept, 
not from emotion, but with rage, with bitterness, for they 
had forgotten me—forgotten, for this new poetess; they 
overwhelmed her with flatteries, leaving me alone and un- 
noticed! And yet you ask me if I hate her!” 

Quite involuntarily had she suffered herself to be carried 
away by her own yehemence, her inward glowing rage. 
With secret pleasure Count Orloff read in her features that 
this was no comedy which she thus improvised, but was 
truth and reality. 

“Tf you so think and feel,” said he, “ then we may soon 
understand each other, signora. A real hatred is of as 
much value as a real love; indeed, often of much greater. 


344 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


One can more safely confide in hatred, as it is more endur- 
ing. I will therefore confide in you, signora, if you will 
swear to me to betray no word of what I shall tell you.” 

“T swear it!” was Corilla’s response. 

“Listen, then!. This Princess Tartaroff is an impostor ; 
no princely blood flows in her veins, and if she gives her- 
self out to be a princess, it is because she therewith connects 
plans of high-treason. More I need not say to you, except 
that my illustrious empress has charged me to bring this 
fraudulent princess to her at St. Petersburg, that she may 
there receive her punishment! This I have sworn to do, 
and must redeem my promise to transport her from here, 
without exciting attention, and without subjecting her to 
any personal injury. Do you now comprehend why I 
come?” 

“TI comprehend,” said Corilla. “An empress would 
avenge herself, and therefore a poor poetess must forego 
her own little private revenge! But how, if I should not 
believe a word of this long story; if I should consider it a 
fable invented by you to assure the safety of your princess?” 

“That you may be compelled to believe it, listen further 
to me.” 

And Alexis Orloff spoke long and zealously to her, 
affording her a glance into his most secret intrigues, inte 
his finely-matured plans, while Corilla followed him witb 
intense expectation and warmly-glowing cheeks. 

“T comprehend it all, all!” said she, when Alexis had 
finally ended; “ it is a deep and at the same time an infer- 
nal plan—a plan which must excite the envy and respect of 
Satan himself!” 








ST 


1 ee et es ae 


POPs’ a 
- ee ee ee ee 


CORILLA. 345 


“ And yourself? ” laughingly asked Alexis. 

“ Oh, I,” said she—*I belong, perhaps, to the family of 
devils, and therefore take pleasure in aiding you! You 
need a negotiator who has a wide conscience and an elo- 
quent tongue! I can furnish you with such a one. Ah, 
that will make a droll story. Said you not that the singer 
Carlo watched this golden treasure like a dragon? Well, it 
shall be his brother who shall contend with this dragon. - 
His own brother—will not that be pleasant, count ?” 

“And are you sure of him?” asked Count Orloff. 
“ How if his brother should win him from us?” 

“ Have no anxiety; this Carlo Ribas is so virtuous that 
he hates no one so much as his brother Joseph, merely 
because he passed some years in the galleys for forgery. 
He is now free, and has secretly come here. As he was 
aware that I knew his brother, he came to me to beg for 
my countenance and support. I will send him to you.” 

“ And you will also not forget my request, that you will 
in all societies speak of the great love which the Empress 
Catharine cherishes for her near relation, the Princess 
Tartaroff ?” 3 

“JT will not forget it. In your hands, count, I lay my 
revenge—you will free me from this rival ?” 

“That will I,” said he, with an inhuman laugh. “And 
when the work is completed, and you have faithfully stood 
by me, then, signora, you may be sure of the gratitude of 
the empress. Catharine is the exalted protectress of the 
muses, and in the fulness of her grace she will not forget 
the poetess Corilla. You may expect an imperial reward.” 


* And I shall gratefully receive it,” said Corilla, with a 
23 


346 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


smile. ‘ A poetess is always poor and in want of assistance. 
The muses lavish upon their votaries all joys but those of 
wealth.” 

“ Ah!” exclaimed Corilla, when the count had left her, 
“T shall in the end obtain all I desire. I shall not only be 
crowned with fame, but blessed with wealth, which is a 
blessing almost equal to that of fame! Money has already 
founded many a reputation, but not always has fame at- 
tracted money to itself! I shall be rich as well as fa- 
mous!” 

“That you already are!” exclaimed the Cardinal 
Francesco Albani, who unremarked had just entered the 
room. 

“T am not,” said she, with vehemence, “for they refuse 
me the prize of fame! Have you been with the pope, your 
eminence, and what did he say?” 

“T come directly from him.” 

* Well, and what says he?” 

“What he always says to me—no!” 

Corilla stamped her feet violently, and her eyes flashed 
lightnings. 

“‘ How beautiful you are now.!” tenderly remarked the 
cardinal, throwing an arm around her. 

She rudely thrust him back. “Touch me not,” said 
she, “you do not deserve my love. You are a weakling, as 
all men are. You can only coo like a pigeon, but when it 
comes to action, then sinks your arm, and you are power, 
less. Ah, the woman whom you profess to love begs of you 
a trifling service, the performance of which is of the highest 
importance to her, the greatest favor, and you will not fulfil 


— 


CCRILLA. 347 


her request while yet swearing you love her! Go! you are 
a cold-hearted man, and wholly undeserving of Corilla’s 
love!” | 

“ But,” despairingly exclaimed the cardinal, you require 
of me a service that it is not in my power to perform. Ask 
something else, Corilla—ask a human life, and you shall 
have it! But I cannot give what is not mine. You de- 
mand a laurel crown, which only the pope has the power to 
bestow, and he has sworn that you shall not have it so long 
as he lives!” 

“ Will he, then, live eternally?” cried Corilla, beside 
herself with rage. 

The cardinal gave her an astonished and interrogating 
glance. But his features suddenly assumed a wild and ma- 
licious expression, and violently grasping Corilla’s hand, he 
murmured : 

“You are right! ‘ Will he, then, live forever?’ Bah! 
even popes are mortal men. And if we should choose for 
his successor a man better disposed toward you than— 
Corilla,” said the cardinal, interrupting himself, and in 
spite of her resistance pressing her to his bosom—* Corilla, 
swear once more to me that you will be mine, and only 
mine, as soon as I procure your coronation in the capitol! 
Swear it once more!” 

She gave him’ such a sweet, enticing, and voluptuous 
smile that the cardinal trembled with desire and joy. 

“ When you in the capitol adorn Corilla with the laurel- 
crown, then will she willingly lay her myrtle crown at your 
feet,” said she, with a charming expression of maiden 
modesty. 


348 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


The cardinal again pressed her passionately to his 
bosom. 

“You shall have the laurel crown, and your myrtle 
crown is mine!” he excitedly exclaimed. “ You will soon 
see whether Francesco is a cold-hearted man! Farewell, 
Corilla!” 

And with a hasty salute he left the room. The aston- 
ished Corilla dismissed him with a smile. 

“Tf it is to succeed at all, it can be only through him,” 
said she. “Poor Francesco, he will bring me a full laure} 
crown! And what can I give him in return? An exfoli 
ated myrtle crown, that is all! No heart with it!” 





CHAPTER XXXVI. 


THE HOLY CHAFFERERS. 


CARDINAL FRANCESCO ALBANI, meantime, hastened 
through the streets with the sprightliness of youth. He 
noticed neither the respectful salutations and knee-bendings 
of those he passed, nor their visible shuddering and alarm 
when under the cardinal’s hat they recognized the fierce 
and inhuman Francesco Albani. 

He stopped before the palace of Cardinal Juan Angelo 
Braschi. The equipage of the new cardinal was drawn up 
before his door. 

“ Ah,” gleefully remarked Albani, “he is therefore yet 
at home, and I shall meet with him!” 

Hastily entering the palace, and pushing past the serv- 


THE HOLY CHAFFERERS. 849 


ant who would have preceded him, he entered the cardinal’s 
pabinet unannounced. 

“Be not troubled, your eminence,” said Albani, with a 
smile, “I will not detain you long. I know your habits, 
and know that Signora Malveda usually expects you at this 
hour, because Cardinal Rezzonico is not then with her! 
But I have something important to say to you. You know 
I am a man who, without forms and circumlocutions, al- 
ways come directly to the point. Idosonow. You desire 
to be the successor of Ganganelli?” 

Braschi turned pale, and timidly cast down his eyes. 

“Why are you shocked?” cried Albani. ‘“ Every cardi- 
nal hopes and wishes to become the father of Christendom— 
that is natural; I should also wish it for myself, but I know 
that that cannot be. I have permitted these lord cardinals 
who, in the conclave, invoke the Holy Spirit, to look too 
much into my cards. I was not so prudent as you, Braschi, 
and therefore you are much the more likely to become God’s 
vicegerent! Would you not like to be pope, if Ganganelli 
should happen to die? And how high would you hold my 
yoice—how much would it be worth to you?” 

“More than all I possess, infinitely more!” said the 
shrewd Braschi. ‘“ Were I sure of your voice, I might then 
have a definite hope of becoming a pope; for your voice 
carries many others with it. How, then, can you expect 
me to estimate what is inestimable?” 

“Would you give me twenty thousand?” asked Al- 
bani.* 


* Gorani (vol. ii., p. 131) says of this cardinal: “ He is excessively 
vindictive, and keeps in his pay many so-called bravi, to whom he de- 


350 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


“ Threefold that sum if I possessed it, but I have noth- 
ing! I am a very poor cardinal, as you well know. My 
whole property consists of six thousand scudi, and that 
trifling sum I dare not offer you.” 

“ Borrow, then, of Signora Malveda!” said Albani. 
“Cardinal Rezzonico is rich and liberal. Let us speak 
directly to the point. You would be pope, and I am 
willing to forward your views. How much will you 
pay?” 

“Tf Signora Malveda will lend me four thousand scudi, 
I should then have ten thousand to offer you!” 

“Well, so be it! Ten thousand scudi will do, if you 
will add to it a trifling favor.” 

“ Name it,” said Braschi. 

“You know that Ganganelli opposes the crowning of 
our famous improvisatrice, Corilla, in the capitol. This is 
an injustice which Ganganelli’s successor will have to re- 
pair. Will you do it?” 

Braschi gave the cardinal a sly glance. ‘“ Ah,” said he, 
“‘Signora Corilla seems to be less liberal than Signora 
Malveda? She will allow you no discount of her future 
laurel-crown, is it not so? I know nothing worse than an 
ambitious woman. Listen, Albani; it seems. that we must. 
be mutually useful to each other; I need your voice to be- 
come pope, and you need mine to become a favored lover. 
Very well, give me your voice, and in return I promise you 


putes his vengeances. Miscreants find protection with him, and he 
admits them to his table, that they may always be in readiness to 
execute his bloody commands. With this cruelty he is also avari- 
cious, and sells his protection; whence his palace serves as a refuge 
for bankrupts and murderers.” 


i 


——— 





THE HOLY CHAFFERERS. 351 


a laurel-crown for Signora Corilla, and eight thousand scudi 
for yourself!” 

“ Ah, you would haggle!” contemptuously exclaimed 
Albani. “ You would be a very niggardly vicegerent of 
God! But as Corilla is well worth two thousand scudi, I 
am content. Give me eight thousand scudi and the promise 
to crown Corilla!” 

* As soon as I am pope, I will do both. My sacred word 
for it! Shall I strengthen my promise by swearing upon 
the Bible? ” 

Cardinal Albani gave the questioner a glance of aston- 
ishment, and then broke out with a loud and scornful 


laugh. 


“ You forget that you are speaking to one of your kind! 
Of what use would such a holy farce be to us who have 
no faith in its binding power? No, no, we priests know 
each other. Such buffoonery amounts to nothing. One 
written word is worth a thousand sworn oaths! Let us 
have a contract prepared—that is better. We will both 
sign it!” 

“ Just as you please!” said Braschi, with a smile, step- 
ping to his writing desk and rapidly throwing some lines 
upon paper, which he signed after it had been carefully 
read by Albani. 

“At length the business is finished,” said Albani. 
* Now, Cardinal Braschi, go to your signora, and surprise 
her with the news that she holds in her arms a pope in spe. 
Pope Clement will soon need a successor; he must be very 
ill, the poor pope!” 

So speaking, he took leave of the future pope with a 


352 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


friendly nod, and departed with as much haste as he had 
come. 

“ And now to these pious Jesuit fathers!” said he, step- 
ping out upon the grass. “ It was very prudent in me that 
I went on foot to Corilla to-day. Our cursed equipages 
betray every thing; they are the greatest of chatterboxes! 
How astonished these good Romans would be to see a car- 
dinal’s carriage before these houses of the condemned! 
No, no, strengthen yourselves for another effort, my rever- 
end legs! Only yet this walk, and then you will have rest.” 

And the cardinal trudged stoutly on until he reached 
the Jesuit college. There he stopped and looked cautiously 
around him. 

“This unfortunate saintly dress is also a hindrance,” 
murmured he. “Like the sign over a shop-door it pro- 
claims to all the world: ‘I am a cardinal. Here indul- 
gences, dispensations, and God’s blessings are to be sold! 
Who will buy, who will buy?’ I dare not now enter this 
scouted and repudiated sacred house. I might be re- 
marked, suspected, and betrayed. Oorilla, dear, beautiful 
woman, it costs me much pains and many efforts to con- 
quer you; will your possession repay me?” 

The cardinal patiently waited in the shadow of a taxus- 
bush until the street became for a moment empty and soli- 
tary. Then he hastened to a side-door of the building,: 
and, sure of being unobserved, entered. 

A deep and quiet silence pervaded these long and de- 
serted cloister-passages. It seemed as if a death-veil lay 
upon the whole building—as if it were depopulated, deso- 
lated. Nowhere the least trace of that busy, stirring life, 





THE HOLY CHAFFERERS. 353 


usually prevailing in these corridors—no longer those 
bands of scholars that formerly peopled these passages— 
the doors of the great school-room open, the benches un- 
occupied, the lecturer’s chair, from which the pious fathers 
formerly with such subtle wisdom explained and defended 
their dangerous doctrines, these also are desolate. The 
reign of the Jesuits was over; Ganganelli had thrust them 
from the throne, and they cursed him as their murderer! 
He had suppressed their sacred order, he had commanded 
them to lay aside their peculiar costume and adopt that of 
other monkish orders, or the usual dress of abbés. But 
from their property he had not been able to expel them in 
this college J? Jesw—within their cloisters his power had 
not been able to penetrate. There they remained, what 
they had been, the holy fathers of Jesus, the pious defend- 
ers of craft and Christian deception, the cunning advocates 
of regicide, the proud servants of the only salvation-dis- 
pensing Church!—there, with rage in their hearts, they 
meditated plans of vengeance against this criminal pope 
who had condemned them to a living death; who, like a 
wicked magician, had changed their sacred college into an 
open grave! He had killed them, and he, should he never- 
theless live? 

With these fatal questions did the holy fathers occupy 
themselves, reflecting upon them in their gloomy leisure, 
and in low whisperings consulting with their prior. And 
in such secret consultation did Cardinal Francesco Albani 
find the prior with his confidant in the refectorium. 

“Do not let me disturb you,” he said, langhing; “I see 
by your faces you are engaged in conversation upon the 


854 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


subject in which I yesterday took a part. That is very well 
—we can resume it where we yesterday broke off, and again 
knot the threads which I yesterday so violently rent. With 
which knot shall we begin ?” 

The eyes of the pious Jesuit father flashed with joy. Fran- 
cesco Albani was inclined to favor their plans and wishes; 
they saw that in his cunning smile, in his return to them. 

“We were speaking of the sacred and important duty 
you will have to perform to-morrow, your eminence,” said 
the prior, with a winning smile. 

“Ah, yes, I remember,” said the cardinal, with apparent 
indifference. ‘ We spoke of the to-morrow’s communion 
of his holiness the pope.” 

“And of the fact that you, your eminence, would to- 
morrow have to discharge the important duty of pouring 
the sacred wine into the golden chalice of the vicegerent of 
God,” said the prior. 

“Yes, yes, I now remember it all,” said Albani, with a 
smile. “You spoke to me of a wonderful flask of wine, 
which, by means of the golden tube, you would gladly help 
to the honor of being drunk by his holiness from the com- 
munion chalice.” 

“Tt is so precious a wine that only the vicegerent of God 
is worthy of wetting his lips with it. It must touch the 
lips of no other mortal !” 

“I. know such a wine,” said Albani; “it thrives best in 
the region of Naples,* and whoever drinks of it becomes a 
partaker of eternal blessedness.” 


* The celebrated poison, Acqua Tofana, is prepared only in - 
Naples. 





THE HOLY CHAFFERERS. 355 


«Yes, you are right, it is a wonderfully strengthening 
wine!” said the prior, folding his hands and directing his 
eyes toward the heavens. “We thank God that He has 
left us in possession of so precious an essence! The pope, 
they say, is suffering and needs strengthening. See how 
closely we follow the teaching of Him whose name we bear, 
and who has commanded, ‘ Love your enemies, bless those 
who curse you!’ Instead of avenging ourselves, we would 
be his benefactors, and refresh him with the most precious 
of what we possess !” 

“ And you would be so unselfish as to keep from him all 
knowledge of your benevolence, you would bless him quite 
secretly! But how if I should betray you, and communicate 
your precious secret to his holiness the pope? Yes, yes, I 
shall open my mouth and speak, unless I am prevented by 
a golden lock put upon my lips.” 

“ We shall willingly apply such a lock!” said the pleased 
prior. 

* But, that it may entirely close my mouth, the lock 
will need to be very heavy!” responded Albani, with a 
laugh. 

“Tt is so—it weighs six thousand scudi!” said the prior. 

“ That is much too light!” exclaimed Albani, laughing ; 
“it will hardly cover my mouth. It still remains that I 
am to undertake a very hazardous affair. Reflect, if any 
one should discover my possession of this strange wine; if 
Ganganelli should perceive that it is not wine from his own 
cellar that I have poured into the cup for him! It is dan- 
gerous work that you would assign to me, a work for which 
I might lose my head, and you venture to offer me a poor 


356 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


six thousand scudi for it! Adieu, then, pious fathers, keep 
you your golden lock, and I my unclosed lips. I shall know 
when and where to speak !” 

And the cardinal moved toward the door. Hastening 
after him, the prior handed him a small flask, the contents 
of which were clear and pure as crystal water, timidly and 
anxiously whispering, “'Ten drops of this in Ganganelli’s 
communion wine, and ten thousand scudi are yours!” 

“Give the ten thousand scudi at once!” said Albani, 
with decision. 

* And the drops?” 

“The pope’s wine is too strong: I will reduce it a little 
with this pure water.* 





CHAPTER XXXVII. 


“sTCO TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI.” 


On the following day there was a solemn high office im 
St. Peter’s. All Rome flocked there, to see this great and 
touching spectacle. A dense crowd thronged the streets, 
and all shouted and cried when the pope, surrounded by 
his Swiss guard, appeared in their midst in his gilded arm- 
chair, and received the greetings of the people with a bland 
smile. 


* The poison, Acqua Tofana, is pure and clear as water, without 
taste or smell. Itis prepared from opium and Spanish flies, combined 
with some other ingredients, which, however, are only known to the 
makers of it. That the Acqua Tofana is made from the foam some- 
times found upon the lips of the dying, is an idle tale, Allessandro 
Borgia was the first to bring it into use. 


— 





“SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI.” 357 


Toward St. Peter’s waved the human throng, and to St. 
Peter’s the pope was borne. The features of Ganganelli 
had an expression of sadness, and as he now glanced down 
upon the thousands of his subjects who, shouting, followed 
him, he asked in his heart, “ Who among you will be my 
murderers? And how long will you yet allow me to live? 
Ah, were I yet the poor Franciscan monk I was, then no 
one would take the pains to assassinate me. Why, then, 
does the world, precisely now, seem so fair to me, now, 
when I know that I must leave it so soon?” And the pope 
shed a secret tear while, surrounded by royal splendor, he 
imparted his blessing to the thousands who reverently knelt 
at his feet. 

The bells rang, the organ resounded, the wide halls of 
St. Peter’s were penetrated by the- marvellous singing of the 
Sistine chapel. Thousands and thousands of wax tapers 
lighted the noble space of the church, thousands and thou- 
sands of people pressed into the sacred halls. Under his 
canopy, opposite the high altar, sat the vicegerent of God 
upon his golden throne, surrounded by the consecrated car- 
dinals and bishops, protected by the Swiss guard! Who 
could have ventured to attack the holy father—who would 
have been so foolhardy as to attempt to penetrate that thick 
wall of Swiss guards and princes of the Church—who could 
have been successful in such an attempt? No human be- 
ing! But where the people could not penetrate, where 
there was no room for the-swinging of a dagger, there the 
malignant poison lurked unseen ! 

Ganganelli sat upon his golden throne, intoxicated by 
the clang of the organ and charmed by the singing of the 


358 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


high choir, and the pope, looking down upon the human 
crowd, again asked himself: ‘Who among you are my 
murderers?” 

The singing ceased, the organ was silent, and only the 
solemn tones of all the bells of St. Peter’s resounded 
through the church. A death-like stillness else; the peo- 
ple lay upon their knees and crossed themselves; before the 
altar kneeling priests murmured prayers. 

It was a solemn, a sublime moment, for the pope must 
now receive the communion—the vicegerent of God must 
drink the blood of the Lamb. But still the pope remains 
sacred; he cannot, like other mortals, make use of his 
earthly feet; he must not, like them, approach the altar, 
Sitting upon his throne, he has partaken of the holy wafer, 
and, as it was unbecoming his dignity to descend to the 
altar in order to come to Christ, the latter must decide to 
come to him! 

The golden chalice at the high altar contains the blood 
of the Lamb; the Cardinal Francesco Albani performs the 
holy office. He has blessed the host, and under his conse- 
crated hand will now be effected the miracle of turning the 
wine into the blood of Christ! 

And Cardinal Albani lays the golden tube in the cup, 
and another cardinal passes the other end of the tube to the 
pope. 

Through this sacred tube will he sip the consecrated 
wine, the blood of the Redeemer! 

Rushing and thundering recommences the high office, 
the trumpets renew their blasts, the drums roll, the bells 
ving, the organ rattles its song of jubilee, the trombones 





ee rN ee ee ee eee ee ee 


“SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MONDI.” 359 


crash in unison. It is the greatest, most sublime moment 
of the whole ceremony. The pope, having put the golden 
tube to his lips, sips the wine changed into blood. 

While the pope drinks the two cardinals who to-day are 
on service approach the sacred throne. They hold a torch 
in the right hand and a small bundle of tow in the left, and 
according to the custom, set the tow on fire. 

It flashes up in a bright flame, is soon extinguished, and 
a small, almost imperceptible quantity of ashes floats from 
it to the feet of the pope. 

“ Sic transit gloria mundi!” (So passes the glory of 
the world!) exclaimed Francesco Albani, with proud pre- 
sumptuousness and with maliciously scornful glances, while 
with an expression of savage triumph he stares in the paling 
face of the pope. “ Sic transit gloria mundi!” repeated 
Albani, in a yet louder and more thundering voice. 

The bells ring, the hymn resounds, the trombone and 
organ clang; the audience are on their knees in prayer. A 
bustle: arises, a suppressed murmur—the holy father of 
Christendom has fainted upon his throne like any common 
mortal man. : 

He has had a vision, the poor pope! It seemed to him 
that he had seen the face of his murderer, and, as his sen- 
tence of death, resounded the scoffing words of Albani: 
“ Sic transit gloria mundi!” 





360 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


CHAPTER XXXVIII. 


THE VAPO. 


Since Paulo had left her, and she found herself alone, 
Natalie felt sad, solitary, in the paradise that surrounded 
her. No longer did she sing in emulation of the birds, no 
longer did she hop with youthful delight and the impetu- 
osity of a young roe through the charming alleys. Sadly, 
and with downcast eyes, sat she under the myrtle bush by 
the murmuring fountains, and frequent heavy sighs heaved 
her laboring breast. 

“ All is changed, all!” she often thoughtfully said to 
herself. “A great and terrible secret has been unveiled 
within me—the secret of my utter abandonment! I have 
no one on earth to whom I belong! Once I never thought 
of that. Paulo was all to me, my friend, my father, my 
brother; but Paulo has abandoned me, I belong not to him, ~ 
and hence I could not go with him. And who is left to 
me? Carlo!” she answered herself in a low tone, and with 
a melancholy smile. “ But Carlo has not filled the void 
that Paulo’s absence has left in my heart. At first I 
thought he could, but that was only a short deception. 
Carlo is good and kind, always devoted, always ready to 
serve me. He always conforms himself to my will, is all 
subjection, all obedience. But that is terrible, unbear- 
able!” exclaimed the almost weeping young maiden. 
* Who, then, shall I obey, before whom shall I tremble, 
when all obey me and tremble before me? And yet Carlo 
isaman. No,” said she, quite low; “were he so I should 








il ee ek 


a ee ee 


THE VAPO. 361 


then obey him, and not he me; then would he give me 
commands, and not I him! No, Carlo is no man—Paulo 
was so! Where art thou, my friend, my father?” _ 

And the young maiden yearningly spread her arms in 
the air, calling upon her distant friend with tender, low- 
whispered words and heartfelt longings. __ 

But the days slowly passed, and still no news came from 
him. Natalie dreamily and sadly sank deeper into herself ; 
her cheeks paled, her step became less light and elastic. 
In vain did her true friends, Marianne and Carlo, exhaust 
themselves in projects and propositions for her distraction 
and amusement. 

“You should go into the world and amuse yourself in 
society, princess,” said Carlo. 

“T hate the world and society,” said Natalie. “ People 
are all bad, and I abominate them. What had I done to 
these people, how had I offended them even in thought, 
and yet they. would have murdered me the very first time I 
appeared among them? No, no, leave me here in my 
solitude, where I at least have not to tremble for my life, 
where I have Carlo to guard and protect me.” 

The singer pressed the proffered hand to his lips. 

“Then let us at least make some excursions in the 
environs of Rome,” said he. 

“No,” said she, “I should everywhere long to be back 
in my garden. Nowhere is it so beautiful as here. Leave 
me my paradise—why would you drive me from it?” 

“ Alas!” despairingly exclaimed Carlo, “ you call your- 
self happy and satisfied ; why, then, are you so sad ?” 


“Am I sad?” she asked, with surprise. ‘No, Carlo, I 
24 


362 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


am not sad! I sometimes dream, nothing more! Let me 
yet dream !” 

“ You will die,” thought Carlo, and with an effort he 
forced back the cry of despair that pressed to his lips; but 
his cheeks paled, and his whole form trembled. 

Seeing it, Natalie shook off her apathy, and with a 
lively sympathy and tender friendship she inquired the 
cause of his disquiet. She was so near him that her breath 
fanned his cheek, and her locks touched his brow. 

“ Ah, you would kill me, you would craze me!” mur- 
mured he, sorrowfully, sinking down, powerless, at her feet. 

She looked wonderingly at him. “Why are you angry 
with me?” she innocently said, “and what have I done, 
that you so wrongfully accuse me?” 

“What have you done?” cried he, beside himself,—the 
moment had overcome him, this moment had burst the 
bands with which he had bound his heart, and in un- 
fettered freedom, in glowing passion, his long-concealed 
secret forced its way to his lips. He must at length for 
once speak of his sorrows, even if death should follow; he 
must give expression to his torment and his love, even 
should Natalie banish him forever from her presence ! 

“What have you done?” repeated he. “Ah, she does 
not even know that she is slowly murdering me, she does 
not even know that I love her!” 

“Am I not to know?” she reproachfully asked. 
“* Would you, indeed, have saved my life had you not loved 
me? Carlo, [am indebted to you for my life, and you say 
I murder you!” 

“Yes,” he frowardly exclaimed, “you murder me! 





SE ee oe ee ee 


ee 





THE VAPO. 363 


Slowly, day by day, hour by hour, am I consumed by this 


frightful internal fire that is destroying me. Ah, you know 
not that you are killing me. And have you not destroyed 
my youthful strength, and from a man converted me into © 
an old, trembling, and complaining woman? Is it not for 
your sake that I have fled the world, leaving behind me all 
it offered of fame and wealth and honor? Is it not your 
fault that I have ceased to be a free man, to have a will of 
my own, and have become a slave crawling at your feet? 
Ah, woe is me, that I ever came to know you! You are an 
enchantress, you have made me your hound, and, whining, 
I lie in the dust before you, satisfied when you touch me 
with your foot.” 

At first, Natalie had listened to him with terror and 
astonishment; then an expression of noble pride was to be 
read upon her features, a glowing flush flitted over her 
delicate cheeks, and with flashing eyes and a heaving bosom 
she sprang up from her seat. Proud as a queen she rose 
erect, the blood of her ancestors awoke in her; she at this 
moment felt herself free as an empress, as proud, as secure 
—and, stretching her arm toward the outlet of the garden, 
she said in a determined tone: “Go, Signor Carlo! Leave 
me, I tell you! We have no longer any thing in common 
with each other!” 

Carlo seemed as if awakened from a delirium. Breath- 
less, with widely-opened eyes, trembling and anxious, he 
stared at the angry maiden. He knew nothing of what he 
had said; he comprehended not her anger, only his infinite 
suffering; he was conscious only of his long-suppressed,. 
long-concealed secret love. And, grasping Natalie’s hands 


364 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


with an imploring expression, he constrained the young 
maiden, almost against her will, to remain and reseat her- 
self upon the grassy bank before which he knelt. 

As he looked up to her with those glowing, passionate 
glances, a maiden fear and trembling for the first time 
came over her, an anxiety and timidity inexplicable to her- 
self! Her delicate, transparent cheeks paled, tears filled 
her eyes, and, folding her hands with a childishly supplicat- 
ing expression, she said in a low, tremulous tone: “ My 
God, my God! Have mercy upon me! I am a wholly 
abandoned, solitary orphan! Rescue me yet from this - 
trouble and distress, from this terrible loneliness !” 

“Fear nothing, my charming angel,” whispered Carlo, 
“‘T will be gentle as a lamb, and patient, very patient in my 
sorrow ; I have sworn it and will keep my oath! But you 
must hearme! You must, only this one time, allow me to 
express In words my love and my sorrow, my misery and 
my ecstasy. Will you allow me this, my lily, my beautiful 
swan?” 

He would have again grasped her hand, but she with- 
drew it with a proud, angry glance. 

“Speak on,” said she, wearily leaning her hand against 
the myrtle-bush. ‘Speak on, I will listen to you!” 

And he spoke to her of his love ; he informed her of his 
former life, his poverty, his want, his connection with 
Corilla, whom he had quitted in order to devote himself 
wholly to her, to obey, serve, and worship her all his life, 
and, if necessary, to die for her! ‘ But you,” he despair- 
ingly said, “ you know not love! Your heart is cold for 
earthly love; like the angels in heaven, you love only the 





THE VAPO. 365 


good and the sublime, you love mankind collectively, but 
not the individual. Ah, Natalie, you have the heart of an 
angel, but not the heart of a woman!” 

The young maiden had half dreamingly listened to him, 
her head leaned back and her glance directed toward the 
heavens. She now smiled, and, with an inimitable grace, 
laying her hand upon her bosom, said in a very low tone: 
* And yet I feel that a woman’s heart is beating there. But 
it sleeps! Who will one day come to awaken it?” 

Carlo did not understand these low whispered words; 
he understood only his own passion, his own consuming 
glow. And anew he commenced his love-plainings, de- 
scribed to her the torments and fierce joys of an unreturned 
love, which is yet too strong and overpowering to be sup- 
pressed. And Natalie listened to him with a dreamy 
thoughtfulness. His words sounded in her ears like a won- 
derful song from a strange, distant world which she knew 
not, but the description of which filled her heart with a 
sweet longing, and she could have wept, without knowing 
whether it was for sorrow or joy. 

“ Thus, Natalie,” at length said Carlo, entirely exhausted 
and pale with emotion—“ thus love I you. You must 
sometime have learned it, and have known that even angels 
cannot mingle with mortals unloved and unpunished. I 
should finally have been compelled to tell you that you 
might torture no longer, in cruel ignorance; that you, learn- 
ing to understand your own heart, might tell me whether I 
have to hope, or only to fear!” 

“Poor Carlo!” murmured Natalie. ‘“ You love me, but 
I donot love you! This has even now become clear to me; 


366 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


and while you have so glowingly described the passion, I 
have for the first time comprehended that I yet know noth- 
ing of that love, and that I can never learn it of you! This. 
is a misfortune, Carlo, but as we cannot change, we must. 
submit to it.” 

Carlo drooped his head and sighed. He had no answer 
to make, and only murmuringly repeated her words: “ Yes, 
we must submit to it!” 

“ And why can we not?” she almost cheerfully asked,. 
with that childlike innocence which never once compre- 
hended the sorrow she was preparing for Carlo—‘ why can 
we not joyfully submit? We both love, only in a different. 
manner. Let each preserve and persevere in his own man- 
ner, and then all may yet be well!” 

“ And it shall be well!” exclaimed Carlo, with anima- 
tion. ‘ You cannot love me as I love you, but I can devote 
my whole life to you, and that will I do! At home, in my 
charming Naples, a beautiful custom is prevalent. When 
one loves, he is adopted as a vapo, a protector, who follows: 
the steps of the one he loves, who watches before her door 
when she sleeps, who secretly lurks at a distance behind her 
when she leaves her house, who observes every passer-by in 
order to preserve her from every murderous or other inim- 
ical attack, or in case.of need to hasten to her assistance. 
Such a vapo protects her against the jealousy of her hus- 
band or the vengeance of a dismissed over.* Natalie, as I 
cannot be your lover, I will be your vapo. Will you accept. 
my services?” 


* Archenholz, “ Engiand and Italy,” vol. v., p. 187. 











THE VAPO. 367 


Giving him her hand, she smilingly said, “I will.” 

Carlo pressed that hand to his lips, and bedewed it with 
a warm tear. 

“ Well, then, I swear myself your vapo,” said he, with 
deep emotion. “ Wherever you may be, I shall be near you, 
I shall always follow to warn and to protect you; should 
you be in danger, call me and you will find me at your side, 
whether by night or by day; I shall always watch over you 
and sleep at the threshold of your door, and should a dream 
alarm you, I shall be there to tranquillize you. So long as 
I live, Natalie, so long as your vapo has a dagger and a sure 
hand, so long shall misfortune fail to penetrate into your 
dwelling. You cannot be mine, or return my love, but I 
can care for you and watch over you. In accepting me for 
your vapo, you have given me the right to die for you if 
necessary, and that of itself is a happiness!” 

Thus speaking Carlo rose, and, no longer able to con- 
ceal his deep emotion and suppress his tears, he left Nata- 
lie, and hastened into the obscurest alleys of the garden. 

The young maiden watched his retreat with a sad smile. 

“Poor Carlo!” murmured she, “and ah! yet much 
poorer Natalie! He loves at least. But I, am I not much 
more to be pitied? I have no one whom I love. I am en- 
tirely isolated, and of what use is a solitary paradise ? ” 


- 


368 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


CHAPTER XXXIX. 


THE INVASION. 


CoriILLtA had kept her word. She had sent to Alexis 
Orloff, Carlo’s brother, Joseph Ribas, the galley-slave, and 
with a malicious smile she had said to the latter, “You 
will avenge me on your treacherous brother ?” 

Count Orloff warmly welcomed Corilla’s protégé. 

“Tf you give me satisfaction,” said he, ‘ you may expect 
a royal recompense, and the favor of the exalted Empress © 
of Russia. First of all, tell me what you can-do?” 

“Not much,” said Joseph Ribas, laughing, “and the 
little I can will yet be condemned as too much. I can very 
dexterously wield the dagger, and reach the heart through 
the back! Because I did that to a successful rival at Pa- 
lermo, I was compelled by the police to flee to Naples. 
There a good friend taught me how to make counterfeit: 
money, an art which I brought to some perfection, and 
which I successfully practised for some years. But the 
police, thinking my skill too great, finally relieved me from 
my employment, and gave me free board and lodging for 
ten years in the galleys. Ah, that was a happy time, your — 
excellency. I learned much in the galleys, and something 
which I can now turn to account in your service. I learned 
to speak the Russian language like a native of Moscow. 
Such a one was for seven years my inseparable friend and 
chain-companion, and as he was too stupid or too lazy to 
learn my language, I was forced to learn his, that I might 
be able to converse with him a little. That, your excellen- 


7 ee 





c—] 





a a. ee * 


se 2 se = 


ee 


THE INVASION, 869 


cy, is about all I know; to wield the dagger, make coun- 
terfeit money, speak the Russian language, and some other 
trifling tricks, which, however, may be of no service to your 
excellency.” ! 

“ Who knows?” said Orloff, laughing. “ Do you under- 
stand, for example, how to break into a house and steal 
gold and diamonds, without being caught in the act?” 

“That,” said Joseph, thoughtfully, “I should hope to 
be able to accomplish. I have, indeed, as yet had no ex- 
perience in that line, but in the galleys I have listened to 
the soundest instructions, and heard the experiences of the 
greatest master of that art, with the curiosity of an emulous 
student !” 

Orloff laughed. ‘ You are a sly fellow,” said he, “ and 
please me much. If you act as well as you talk, we shall 
soon be good friends! Well, to-morrow night you make 
your firstessay. The business is an invasion.” 

“ And that shall be my masterpiece!” responded Joseph 
Ribas. 

“Tf you succeed, I will, in the name of my illustrious 
empress, immediately take you into her service, and you be- 
come an officer of the Russian marine.” 

Joseph Ribas stared at him with astonishment. “That 
js certainly an immense honor and a great good fortune,” 
said he, “ only I should like to know if the Russian marine 
engages in sea-fights, and if the officers are then obliged to 
stand under fire?” 

“Yes, indeed,” cried Orloff, langhing, “ but in such cases 
you can conceal yourself behind the cannon until the fight 
is over!” 


37C THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


“J shall remember your wise suggestion in time of 
need !” seriously responded Joseph Ribas, bowing to the 
count.* “And where, your excellency, is to be the scene 
of my present activity? Where am I to gain my epau- 
lets?” 

“J will myself conduct you to the spot and show you 
the house where a rich set of diamonds and some thou- 
sands of scudi are lying in company with your epaulets!” 

“And as I have rather long fingers, I shall be able to 
grasp both the epaulets and the treasure,” laughingly re- 
sponded Ribas. 

It was in the evening after this conversation of Orloff 
with Joseph Ribas, a wonderfully brilliant evening, such as 
is known only under Italian skies. 

Natalie inhaled the soft air with delight, and drank in 
the intoxicating odor of the flowers which poured out their 
sweetest fragrance in the cool of the evening. She was on 
this evening unusually cheerful; with a smiling brow and 
childish gayety, as in happier days, she skipped down the 
alleys, or, with her guitar upon her arm, reposed upon her 
favorite seat under the myrtle-bush near the murmuring 
fountains. 


* And, in fact, Ribas did remember it! Ata later period, having 
become a Russian admiral, he was intrusted with the command of the 
flotilla which was to descend the Danube to aid in the capture of 
Kilia and Ismail. But during the investment of Ismail (December 21, 
1790), Ribas concealed himself among the reeds on the bank of the 
Danube, and did not reappear until the danger was over and he could 
in safety share in the booty taken by his sailors. But this cowardice 
and avarice of their admiral very nearly caused a mutiny among the 
sailors.: It was not suppressed without the greatest efforts.—(See 
“* Mémoires Secrétes sur la Russie, par Masson.” vol. iii., p. 381.) 





THE INVASION. 371 


*T am to-day so happy, ah, so happy,” said she, “in 
consequence of having dreamed of Paulo—in my dream 
he was near me, spoke to me, and that is a sure sign of 
his speedy return! Oh, certainly, certainly! In my 
dream he announced it to me, and I distinctly heard him 
say: ‘ We shall meet again, Natalie. I shall soon be with 
you!’” 

“ Ah, may this dream but prove true!” sighed Mari- 
anne, Natalie’s faithful companion. She was standing, not 
far from her mistress, with Carlo, and both were tenderly 
observing the young maiden, who now smilingly grasped 
her guitar and commenced a song of joy for Paulo’s ex- 
pected return! 

“JT have no faith in our count’s return!” whispered 
Marianne while Natalie was singing. “It is a bad sign 
that no news, not a line, nor even the shortest message, has 
yet come from him. Something unusual, some great and 
uncontrollable misfortune, must have prevented his writ- 
ing ! ” 

“You do not think they have imprisoned him?” asked 
Carlo. 

“T fear it,” sighed Marianne. “And if so, what fate 
then awaits our poor princess? Helpless, alone, without 
means! For if the count is imprisoned, he will no longer 
be in a condition to send money, as he promised. And we 
now possess only a thousand scudi, with double that amount 
in diamonds!” 

“Then we are still rich enough to keep off deprivations 
for a time!” said Carlo. 

“But when at length these last resources are ex- 


372 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


hausted?” asked Marianne—“ when we no longer have 
either money or diamonds—how then?” 

“Oh, then,” exclaimed Carlo, with a beaming face 
“then will we labor for her! That, also, will be a pleasure. 
Marianne!” ; 

While the two were thus conversing, Natalie, with a 
happy smile and cheerful face, was still singing her hymn 
of joy for Paulo’s approaching return to the accompani- 
ment of the rustling trees, the murmuring fountains, and 
the chirping birds in the myrtle-bush. It was a beautiful 
night, and as the bright full moon now advanced between 
the pines, illuminating Natalie’s face and form, the par, 
tially intoxicated and perfectly happy Carlo whispered: 
“Only look, Marianne! does she not resemble a blessed 
angel ready to spread her wings, and with the moonlight 
to mount up to the stars? Only look, seems it not as if the 
moonbeams tenderly embraced her for the purpose of lead- 
ing an angel back to its home?” 

“ May she, at least, one day, with such a happy smile, 
take her departure for the skies!” sighed Marianne, ~— 
folding her hands. 

At this moment a shrill, cutting wail interrupted Nata- 
lie’s song. A string of her guitar had suddenly snapped 
“asunder; frightened, almost angry, Natalie let the instru- 
ment fall to the earth, and again the strings resounded like 
lamentations and sighs. 

“That is a bad omen,” sighed Natalie. “ How, if that 
should be true, and not my dream?” 

And trembling with anxiety, the young maiden stretched 
forth her hands toward her friends. 





THE INVASION. 373 


“ Carlo—Marianne,” she anxiously said, “come here to 
me, protect me with your love from this mortal fear and 
anguish which has suddenly come over me. See, the moon 
is hiding behind the clouds. Ah, the whole world grows 
dark and casts a mourning veil over its bright face!” 

And the timid child, clinging to Marianne’s arm, con- 
~ cealed her face in the bosom of her motherly friend. 

* And you call that an omen!” said Carlo, with forced 
cheerfulness. “This time, princess, I am the fatwm which 
has alarmed you! It is my own fault that this string 
broke. It was already injured and half broken this even- 
ing when I tuned the guitar, but I hoped it would suffice 
for the low, sad melodies you now always play. Yes, could 
I have known that you would have so exulted and shouted, 
I should have replaced it with another string, and this great 
misfortune would not have occurred.” 

While speaking, he had again attached the string and 
drawn it tight. 

“The defective string is quickly repaired, and you can 
recommence your hymn of joy,” he said, handing back the 
guitar to Natalie. 

She sadly shook her head. “It is passed,” said she, “I 
can exult and sing no more to-day, and have an aversion to 
this garden. See how black and threatening these pines: 
rise up, and do not these myrtle-bushes resemble large dark 
graves? No, no; it frightens me here—I can no longer 
remain among these graves and these watchers of the 
dead! Come, let us go to our rooms! It is night—we 
will sleep and dream! Come, let us immediately go into 
the house.” 


374 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


And like a frightened roe she fled toward the house, the 
others following her. 

In an hour all was silent in the villa. The lights were 
successively extinguished in Natalie’s and Marianne’s cham- 
bers; only in Carlo’s little chamber yet burned a dull, soli- 
tary lamp, and occasionally the shadow of the uneasy singer 
passed the window as he restlessly walked his room. At 
length, however, this lamp also was extinguished, and all 
was dark and still. 

About this time a dark shadow was seen creeping slowly 
and cautiously through the garden. Soon it stood still, and 
then one might have supposed it to be a deception, and that 
only the wind shaking the pines had caused that moving 
shadow. But suddenly it again appeared in a moonlighted 
place, where no bush or tree threw its shade, and, as if 
alarmed by the brightness, it then again moved aside into 
the bushes. 

This shadow came constantly nearer and nearer to the 
house, and as the walks were here broader and lighter, one 
might distinctly discern that it was a human being, the 
form of a tall, stately man, that so cautiously and stealthily 
approached the house. And what is that, sparkling and 
flashing in his girdle—is it not a dagger, together with a 
pistol and a long knife? Ah, a threatening, armed man is 
approaching this silent, solitary house, and no one sees, no 
one hears him! Even the two large hounds which with 
remarkable watchfulness patrol the garden during the night, 
even they are silent! Ah, where, then, are they? Carlo 
had himself unchained them that they might wander freely 
—where, then, can they be? 





THE INVASION, 875 


They lie in the bushes far from the house, cold, stiff, 
and lifeless. Before them lies a piece of seductively smell- 
ing meat. That was what had enticed them to forget their 
duty, and, instead of growling and barking, they had with 
snuffling noses been licking this tempting flesh. Their in- 
stinct had not told them it was poisoned, and therefore they 
now lay stiff and cold near the food that had destroyed them. 

No, from those hounds he had nothing more to fear, 
this bold, audacious man; the hounds will no more betray 
him, nor warningly announce that Joseph Ribas, the ven- 
turesome thief and galley-slave, is lurking about the house 
to steal or murder, as the case may be. 

He has now reached the house. He listens for a mo- 
ment, and as all remains still, no suspicious noise making 
itself heard, with pitch-covered paper, brought with him 
for the purpose, he presses in one of the window panes. 
Then, passing his hand through the vacancy caused by the 
absent pane of glass, he opens one wing of the French win- 
dow, and, by a bold leap springing upon the parapet, he 
lets himself glide slowly down into the room. 

Again all is still, and silent lies the solitary, peaceful 
villa. Suddenly appears a small but bright light behind 
one of these dark windows. 

That is the thief’s lantern, which Joseph Ribas has 
lighted to illuminate his dark, criminal way. 

He cautiously ascends the stairs leading to the second 
story, and not a step jars under his feet, not one, nor does 
the slightest noise betray him. 

He is now above, in the long corridor. Approaching the 
first door, he listens long. He hears a loud breathing— 


376 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


some one sleeps within. With one sole quick movement he 
turns the key remaining in the lock. The door is now 
locked, and the sleeper within remains undisturbed. Joseph 
creeps along to the next door, and again he listens to ascer- 
tain if there be anything stirring within. But no, he hears 
nothing! All is still behind this door. ; 

He draws a pistol from his girdle, cocks it, and, thus 
prepared to resist every attack, he suddenly opens the door. 
No one is in the room, no one but Joseph Ribas the thief, 
who, with flashing eyes, suspiciously and carefully examines 
every hole and corner. 

But no, no one is there. Calm and sure, Joseph Ribas, 
steps into the room, drawing and bolting the door behind 
him. No one can now surprise him, no one can fall upon 
him from behind. But yes, there is also a door on each 
side, right and left. He listens at the first, he thinks he 
hears a light breathing; here also he quickly shoves a bolt 
and passes over to the other door, which stands ajar. Cau- 
tiously he pushes it open and looks in. A small, dull lamp 
is burning there, lighting the lovely face of the sleeping 
Princess Natalie. 

“That is she!” low murmured Ribas, as with eager 
glances he observes the young and charming maiden. He 
is drawn forward as if with invisible bands—he penetrates 
into this sacred asylum of the slumbering maiden. But he 
forcibly checks his advance. “I have sworn not to touch 
her, and I will keep my word, that I may secure my epau- 
lets!” he muttered to himself, and, retreating into the first 
chamber, he bolts the door, to make all sure, that leads into 
Natalie’s chamber. 





THE INVASION. 377 


“Now to the work!” said he, with decision. ‘“ Here 
stands the bureau, the treasure must be here.” 

And, placing his dark lantern upon a table, he draws 
forth his picklock and chisels, and commences breaking 
open the bureau. Right—his thievish instinct has not 
deceived him, he has found all, all. Here is the little box 
of sparkling diamonds, and here the full purses of money. 

With a knavish smile, Joseph Ribas conceals the bril- 
liants in his bosom, and deposits the money in his capacious 
pockets. 

“Tt is a pity that this is not mine,” he muttered with a 
grin, “ but toward this count I must act as an honorable 
thief, and I have promised to bring it all truly to him.” 

The work is completed, the malicious criminal act is 
performed. He can now go, can again creep away from the 
house his feet have soiled. 

Why goes he not? Why does he linger in these rooms? 
Why directs he such wild and eager glances to the door be- 
hind which Natalie sleeps ? 

He cannot withstand the temptation, and even at the 
risk of awaking Natalie, he must see her once more! And, 
moreover, what had he to fear from an isolated young 
girl? He will only have one more look at her. Nothing 
more ! 

He noiselessly pushes back the bolt; noiselessly, upon 
tiptoe, with closed lantern, he creeps into the room and to 
Natalie’s bedside. 

She is wonderfully beautiful, and she smiles in her slum- 
ber. How charming is that placid face, that half-uncovered 


_ shoulder, that arm thrown up over her head, where it is half 
25 


378 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


concealed under her luxuriant locks! Wonderfully beauti- 
ful is she. Dares he to touch that arm and breathe a kiss, 
a very light kiss, upon those fragrant lips? Why not? 
No one sees him, nor will Count Alexis Orloff ever know 
that his commands have been disobeyed. 

But as he bent down, as his breath comes only in light 
contact with her cheek, she stirs! Maiden modesty never 
slumbers ; it watches over the sleeping girl, it protects her. 
It is her good genius who never deserts her. 

Drawing herself up, Natalie opens her eyes and starts 
up from her couch. Then she sees a large, threatening 
masculine form close before her, close before her that wildly- 
laughing face. ; 

A shriek of terror and anguish bursts from her lips, and 
in a tone of alarm she calls: “Carlo, Carlo! Help! help! 
Carlo! Save—” 

More she did not say. With a wild rage, angry, and 
ashamed of his own folly, Joseph Ribas rushes upon her. 

“One more cry!” he threateningly said—“ one more 
call for help, and I will murder you!” 

But at this moment a small curtained door which Ribas 
had not remarked and hence not fastened, was suddenly 
opened, and Carlo rushed in. 

“T am here, Natalie !—I am here!” | 

Rushing upon the stranger, and grasping him with gi- 
gantic strength, he thrust him down from the bed. 

Joseph Ribas turned toward his new and unexpected 
enemy. The lamp lighted his face, and falling back Carlo 
shrieked, “ My brother!” 

Joseph Ribas broke out into a loud, savage laugh. “ At 





THE INVASION. 379 


length we meet, my brother,” said he. “ But this time you 
shall not hinder me in my work. This time I am the con- 
queror !” 

“ No, no, that you are not!” cried Carlo, beside himself 
with pain and rage. “Confess what you want in this house 
—confess, or you are a dead man!” 

And with a drawn dagger he rushed upon his oppo- 
nent ! 

A frightful struggle ensued. Natalie, in her night-dress, 
pale as a lily, knelt upon her bed and prayed. She had 
folded her hands over her breast, directly over the place 
where the papers confided to her by Paulo, in a little silken 
bag, always hung suspended by a golden chain. 

“Grant, O my God,” prayed she—“ grant that I may 
keep my promise to Paulo, and that I may defend these 
papers with my life!” 

And the two brothers were still struggling and contend- 
ing; like two serpents they had coiled around each other, 
and held each other in their toils. 

“ Flee, flee, Natalie!” groaned Carlo, with a weakened 
voice—“ flee away from here! I yet hold him, you are yet 
safe! Flee!” 

But in this moment the maiden thought not of her own 
danger. She thought only of Carlo. Springing from her 
bed, with flashing eyes she boldly threw herself between the 
contending men. 

“No, no,” said she, courageously, “I will not flee—I 
shall at least know how to die!” 

A shriek resounded from Carlo’s lips, his arms relaxed 
and fell from his enemy, leaving his brother free. 


880 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


“Ah, finally, finally!” gasped the panting Joseph. 
“That was an amusing carnival farce, my virtuous brother! 
Farewell! Jam this time triumphant!” 

With a wild leap he sprang to the door; brandishing 
his bloody dagger in his right hand, he ran through ‘the 
corridor, down the stairs, and out into the garden. 

“Saved!” said he, breathing more freely. “I think this 
Russian will be satisfied with me! I bring the money and 
the diamonds, and at the same time have effectually opened 
a vein for this troublesome protector! Ah, it seems to me 
I have very successfully put in practice my studies in the 
high-school of the galleys!” 

And, humming a jovial song, Joseph Ribas swung him- 
self into a tree close to the wall, and let himself down on 
the other side. , 

Above, in Natalie’s chamber, Carlo long lay stretched 
on the floor, pale, with the death-rattle in his throat. Ina 
bright stream flowed the blood from the wound made by his 
brother’s dagger. Natalie knelt by him. No tear was in 
her eye, no lamentation escaped her lips. She seemed per- 
fectly calm and collected in her excess of sorrow; she only 
sought with her robe and her hair to cover Carlo’s wound 
and stop the flow of blood. 

A happy smile played upon Carlo’s blue lips. 

“T die,” he murmured, “but I die for thee! Thy 
vapo has kept his word, he has defended thee until his 
last breath! How good is God! He lets me die in thy 
service |” 

“No, no, you must not die!” cried Natalie, her calm- 
ness giving way to the wildest sorrow. ‘No, Carlo, you 


——" 


ee a 


ey ee ee ee eS eee ee eee Oe i i a i i ir 


THE INVASION, 381 


must live! Oh, say not that you die! Ah, you love me, 
and yet you would leave me alone! Only live, and I also 
will love you, Carlo, as warmly and as glowingly as you love 
me! Do but remain with me, and my heart, my life shall 
be yours!” 

“Too late! too late!” murmured Carlo, with dying 
lips. Remember me, Natalie—I have dearly loved you. I 
die happy, for I die in your arms!” 

*‘ No, no, you shall live in my arms!” sobbed she. “I 
will be yours—your bride !” 

“Kiss me, my bride,” he falteringly stammered. 

She bent over him, and with hers she touched his lips, 
already stiffening in death. She laid her warm, glowing 
cheek to his cold and marble-pale face ; that full, fresh life 
pressed that which was cold and expiring to her bosom in 
an ardent struggle with death! In vain! 

Death is inexorable. What he has once touched with 
his hand, that is past recovery, it is his. 

The blood no longer flowed from Carlo’s wound, the 
breath no longer rattled in his throat—it was silent; but a 
blessed smile still lay upon his lips. With this smile had 
he died, happy, blessed in the embrace of her he had so 
truly loved. 

When Marianne, after long and vain efforts to open the 
door, had finally managed, by tying her bed-clothes to- 
gether, to let herself down into the garden, and had thence 
hastened into the house, and up into Natalie’s chamber, 
she found there all silent and still. Nothing stirred. Na- 
talie lay in a deathlike swoon. 

He, Carlo, already stiffened in death, and she, the sense- 


382 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


less Natalie, with her head reclining against the marble 
face of her friend ! 

Poor Natalie! Why must Marianne succeed in awak- 
ing thee from thy swoon? Why did you not let her con- 
tinue in her insensibility, Marianne? In sleep, she at least 
would not have realized that she was now left entirely 
alone, entirely abandoned, with no one to defend her 
against her cruel and artful enemies, of whose existence 
she never once dreamed ! 


CHAPTER XL. 


INTRIGUES. 


Count ORLOFF lay in a comfortable, careless position 
upon his divan, leisurely smoking his long Turkish pipe. 
Before him stood Joseph Ribas, laughingly relating in his 
own comic manner the occurrences of the preceding night. 

“You are a wonderful man,” said Orloff, when Joseph 
had finished. “You have honestly earned your epaulets, 
and to-day you will for the first time appear at my dinner- 
table as a Russian officer. Ah, I prophesy a great future for 
you. You have the requisite skill and address to make your 
fortune. You are shrewd, daring, and you recoil from no 
means, finding them all good and useful when they forward 
your aims. With such principles one may go far in this 
world, and Russia in fact offers you the best opportunity for 
bringing all these fine talents into use,” 

“ And, moreover, I commenced my Russian career with 








ee, ee oe SS he ee, 


INTRIGUES. 383 


a good omen,” said Joseph. “I have placed a murder at 
the head of my Russian deeds! That is a promising com- 
mencement, is it not, Sir Count? You must know that 
better than any one.” 

“ Indeed yes, I must best know that,” said the count, 
laughing, and continually stroking his long black beard. 
“ By a fair and well-timed murder one can always make his 
fortune in Russia. A well-timed and well-executed murder 
is with us often rewarded with a barony and the title of 
count. Indeed, sometimes with the highest and tenderest 
imperial favor and grace. Ah, a murder at the right mo- 
ment is an excellent thing, only one must be quite sure of 
himself, and not fail of hitting the right man. An unsuc- 
cessful murder is a very bad, and, indeed, a very dangerous 
thing. I would have nothing to do with one, and never | 
have had any thing to do with one. Whatever I have un- 
dertaken I have always boldly and successfully accomplished. — 
The good Emperor Peter III. knew that, and consequently 
trembled when I, with Passeb and Bariatinsky, entered his 
chamber. The good emperor! He did not tremble long, 
it was soon finished. Yes, yes, that was a deed done at the 
right time, and therefore has the great Catharine been so 
grateful to us, and honoured us above all the illustrious 
grandees of her empire.” * 

“My little opening murder has, indeed, less signifi- 
cance,” sighed Joseph Ribas. ‘“ What was it but to help a 


* Of the tragic and horrible events connected with Catharine’s ac- 
cession to the throne, and of the strangulation of Peter, in which he 
took so active a part, Orloff spoke in Rome with the greatest freedom 
and evident pleasure.—Gorani, vol. ii., p. 23. 


384 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


| humble musician to the blessedness and harmony of the 
spheres ! ” 

“ But that musician was your brother!” 

Ribas shrugged his shoulders. “ ‘That is, he was so con- 
sidered; but in reality I believe he was only a half-brother. 
My mother, of blessed memory, had many little adventures, 
and I think Carlo’s birth was somewhat connected with 
them. Noram I sure that it was not a necessary work to kill 
him, as it was surely my duty to avenge my father’s injured 
honor, which is all I have done! Upon these grounds has 
a good, honest priest this day given me absolution, and I 
now stand before you pure and sinless as a maiden! We 
can therefore begin anew, your excellency. Have you still 

any commands for me?” 

- You now have a very noble and sublime part to play,” 
said Orloff, laughing. ‘“ You must now appear as the bene- 
factor of our Russian princess, and as the mediating fore- 
runner of my own person!” 

“ That will be indeed a charming réle,” said Ribas, rub- 
bing his hands with delight. “I shall admirably acquit my- 
self as benefactor and mediator. But give me some details, 
Sir Count!” 

“ You shall have them,” said Orloff, “from the mouth 
of Stephano.—Stephano !” 

The person called immediately appeared at the door of 
a side-room. 

“ Stephano,” said Orloff, “now to the work, friend. 
The courier who arrived to-day has brought us good news 
and full powers. Count Paul Raczinsky is sent to Siberia 
for high-treason—his property is confiscated and falls to the 





INTRIGUES. 385 


state. I have an unlimited power, signed by the empress 
herself, to seize and sell his possessions here in the name of 
the empress. Take with you some attorney and officers and 
go to this villa. But, first of all, help our little Joseph 
Ribas to his uniform and epaulets, that he may be properly 
costumed for a rescuer and benefactor. And now, away 
with you! Instruct him well, Stephano. Ah, I should like 
to be present at this delightful comedy!” 

And Count Orloff broke out into a hearty laugh. 

“This whole affair is very entertaining and romantic,” 
he said to himself, as soon as he was alone. “I am truly 
very thankful to Catharine for intrusting it tome. I love 
the adventurous and romantic. Indeed, whom else could 
she have chosen for this business? I should like to know 
who would dare to enter the lists with me, the Russian Her- 
cules, and who would be so bold as to contend with me for 
this prize?” 

Thus speaking, he rose from the divan and stepped to 
the great Venetian mirror, before which he long remained 
attentively viewing himself. 

** Ahem! this tender Empress Catharine knows how to 
judge of manly beauty,” murmured he, with a self-satisfied 
smile, “and I cannot blame her for so often giving me the 
preference over my brother Gregory. Besides, I shall first 
appear before this little Princess Natalie in my antique 
dress. Catharine has often told me I was enchanting in my 
antique costume. Well, we will also let this enchantment 
work a little here. But first we must think of what is near- 
est to us. This Corilla has rendered us a service, and we 
must be grateful. They say she loves diamonds. I shall 


386 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


therefore send her these diamonds which her éléve Joseph 
Ribas last night made the property of the Russian crown. 
And with them I will send a little billet, written with my 
own hand. Who knows but that this will give her more 
pleasure than the sparkling brilliants! ” 

In that, however, the handsome Count Orloff was mis- 
taken. ‘The poetess Corilla therein resembled to a hair the 
prima-donnas and heroines of the stage of the present day. 
She attached a great value to diamonds, and knowing that 
Russia was very rich in gold and diamonds, she always had 
an especially bewitching smile for Russian grandees. Had 
Count Orloff come in person to bring the diamonds, she 
would undoubtedly have more admired him, apparently 
been more pleased with his presence than with his costly 
gift; but, as he was not there, there was no necessity for 
dissimulation. . 

She read Count Orloff’s billet with a satisfied smile; 
but soon laid it aside for the delight of examining the 
jewels. | 
“ How that shines, and how that sparkles,” said the ex- 
hilarated poetess ; “‘ not even a lover’s eyes flash so brightly, 
nor is his smile so proud, so full of rich certainty, as the 
sparkling of these gems! They are enchanters, and a word 
from me can change these solitaires and rosettes into a 
beautiful villa, or into a fragrant park with silent arbors, 
intoxicating odors, and sweetly-singing birds. All that is 
promised me by these stones—a lover’s promises do not 
express half so much. And only to think that it is Carlo, 
my former lover, to whom I am indebted for these dia- 
monds! From love to him I wished to destroy Natalie, and 





; 
; 
J 
. 
} 


INTRIGUES. 387 


that wish procured me the fayor of the Russian count, and 
consequently these brilliants. Poor Carlo! these diamonds 
outlast you. How bright and beautiful were your glances 
that are now extinguished by death—but this cruel, inexor- 
able death has no power over diamonds! It cannot stran- 
gle these as thou wert strangled, poor Carlo! I shall re- 
member thee this evening, Carlo, and hope the thought of 
thee may inspire me for a right beautiful improvisation on 
death! I shall take pains to bring to mind thy beautiful 
form overflowed with blood. Yes, it will inspire in mea 
very effective improvisation, and I will at the same time 
make a selection from my dear poets of some striking 
rhymes upon death and the grave. And when I have the 
rhymes, the thoughts and words will come of themselves. 
Rhymes, rhymes, these are the main things with poets!” 

And while the improvisatrice was thus speaking to her- 
self, she had mechanically adorned her person with the 
brilliants, attaching the beautiful collar to her neck, the 
long pendants to her ears, and placing the splendid diadem 
upon her brow. 

She looked exceedingly beautiful in these ornaments, 
and consequently rejoiced that her friend Cardinal Fran- 
cesco Albani came at this precise moment. 

“ He will be ravished?” said she, with a smile, advanc- 
ing to meet him with the proud and imposing dignity of a 
queen. 

“You are beautiful as a goddess!” exclaimed the cardi- 
nal, “and whoever sees you thus has seen the protecting 
divinity of ancient Rome, the sublime Juno, queen of 
heayen !” 


388 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


“Were I Juno, would you consent to be my Vulcan?” 
roguishly asked Corilla. 

“No,” said Albani, laughing; “ the noble Juno was not 
exactly true to her Vulcan, and I require a faithful love! 
Would you be that, Corilla? ” ; 

“We shall see,” said she, changing the arrangement of 
the diadem before the glass—‘we shall see, my worthy 
friend. But forget not the conditions—first the laurel- 
crown!” 

“You shall have it!” triumphantly responded the car- 
dinal. 

“ Are you certain of that?” asked Corilla, with flashing 
eyes and glowing cheeks. 

Cardinal Francesco Albani smiled mysteriously. 

“Pope Ganganelli is ill,” said he, “ and it is thought he 
will die!” 


CHAPTER XLI. 


THE DOOMING LETTER. 


GROANING, supported by his faithful Lorenzo’s arm, 
Pope Ganganelli slowly moved through the walks of his 
garden. Some months had passed since the suppression 
of the order of the Jesuits—how had these few months 
changed poor Clement! Where was the peace and cheer- 
fulness of his face, where was the sublime expression of his 
features, the firm and noble carriage of his body—where 
was it all? 

Trembling, shattered, with distorted features, and with 





THE DOOMING LETTER. 389 


dull, half-closed eyes, crawled he about with groans, his 
brow wrinkled, his lips compressed by pain and inward sor- 
row. 

No one dared to remain with him; he spoke to no one. 
But Lorenzo was yet sometimes able to drive away the 
clouds from his brow, and to recall a faint smile to his thin 
pale lips. 

He had also to-day succeeded in this, and for the first 
time in several weeks had Ganganelli, yielding to his 
prayers, consented to a walk in the garden of the Quirinal. 

“This air refreshes me,” said the pope, breathing more 
freely; “it seems as if it communicated to my lungs a re- 
newed vital power and caused the blood to flow more rapidly 
in my veins. Lorenzo, this is a singularly fortunate day 
for me, and I will make the most of it. Come, we will re- 
pair to our Franciscan Place!” 

“That is an admirable idea,” said Lorenzo, delighted. 
“Tf your holiness can reach it, you will recover your health, 
and all will again be well.” 

Ganganelli sighed, and glanced toward heaven with a 
sad smile. 

“ Health!” said he. “Ah, Lorenzo, that word reminds 
me of a lost paradise. The avenging angel has driven me 
from it, and I shall never see it again.” 

“ Say not so!” begged Lorenzo, secretly wiping a tear 
from his cheek. “No, say not so, you will certainly re- 
cover !”” 

“ Yes, recover!” replied the pope. “ For death is a re- 
Covery, and in the end perhaps the most real.” 

They silently walked on, and making a path through 


390 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


the bushes, they at length arrived at the place, with the 
construction of which Lorenzo had some months before sur- 
prised the pope, and which Ganganelli had since named 
the “ Franciscan Place.” 

“So,” joyfully exclaimed Lorenzo, while the exhausted 
pope glided down upon the grass-bank—“ so, brother Clem- 
ent, now let us be cheerful! You know that here we have 
nothing more to do with the pope. You have yourself de- 
elared that here you would be brother Clement, and nothing 
more; now brother Clement was always a healthy man, full 
of juvenile spirits and strength.” 

“ Ah, my friend,” responded Ganganelli, “I fear the 
pope has secretly followed brother Clement even to this 
place, and even here no longer leaves him free! No, no, it 
is no longer brother Clement who sits groaning here, it is 
the vicegerent of God, the father of Christendom, the holy 
and blessed pope! And if you knew, Lorenzo, what this 
vicegerent of God has to suffer and bear, how his blood like 
streams of fire runs through his veins, carbonizing his en- 
trails and parching the roof of his mouth, so that the 
tongue fast cleaves to it, and he has no longer the power to 
complain of his misery! And such a crushed earth-worm 
this miserable, infatuated people call the vicegerent of God, 
before whom they bow in the dust! Ah, foolish children, 
are you not yourselves disgusted with your masquerade, and 
do you not blush for this jest?” 

“See you not,” said Lorenzo, with forced cheerfulness, 
“that since you are here you have, against your will, again 
become brother Clement, and inveigh against God’s vice- 
gerent who holds his splendid court in the Vatican and 


THE DOOMING LETTER. 391 


Quirinal! Yes, yes, that was what brother Clement used to 
do in the Franciscan convent; he was always scolding about 
the pope.” 

“ And yet he let men befool him and make a pope of 
him,” said Ganganelli. “Ah, Lorenzo, they were indeed 
good purposes that decided me, and good and holy resolu- 
tions were in me when I bore this crown of St. Peter for the 
first time. Ah,I was then so young, not in years, but in 
hopes and illusions. I was so enthusiastic for the good and 
noble, and I wished to serve it, to honor and glorify it in 
the name of God!” 

“ And in the end you have done so!” solemnly responded 
Lorenzo. 

“T have wished to do so!” sighed Ganganelli, “ but 
there it has ended. I have been hemmed in everywhere; 
wherever I wished to press through, I have always found a 
wall before me—a wall of prejudices, of ancient customs, 
once received as indifferent, and at this wall my cardinals 
and officials held watch, taking care that my will should be 
broken against it, and not be able to break through, in 
order to let ina little freedom, a little fresh air, into our 
walled realm! They have curbed and weakened my will, 
until nothing more of it subsists, and of my holiest resolu- 
tions they have made a scarecrow before which foreign 
kings and princes cry murder,-and prophesy the downfall 
of their kingdoms if I adhere to my innovations. Ah, the 
princes, the princes! I tell you, Lorenzo, it is the princes 
who have undermined the happiness of the world with their 
ideas of absolute power; they are the robbers of all man- 
kind; for freedom, which is the common property of all 


392 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


men, that have they, like regular lawless highwaymen, ap- 
propriated for themselves alone. They plundered the luck- 
pennies of all mankind, and coined them into money adorned 
with their likenesses, and now all mankind run after 
this money, thinking: ‘If I gain that, then shall I have re- 
covered my part of human happiness which once belonged 
to allin common!’ It has come to this, Lorenzo, through 
the rapacity of princes, and yet they still tremble upon their 
thrones, and fear that the people may one day awake from 
their stupid slumber, all rising as one man, and cry in the 
paling faces of their robbers: ‘Give back what you have 
taken from us—we will have what is ours; we require free- 
dom and human right; we will no longer remain slaves to 
tremble before a bugbear; we will be free children of God, 
and have no one to fear but the God above us and the con- 
sciences within our own breasts!’ Come down, therefore, 
from your usurped thrones, become once more human— 
labor, enjoy, complain, and rejoice, as other men do; live 
not upon the sweat of your subjects, but nourish yourselves 
by your own efforts, that justice may prevail in the world, 
and humanity regain its rights!” 

And Ganganelli’s eyes flashed, his sunken cheeks were 
feverishly flushed, while he was thus speaking. Lorenzo 
observed it with anxious eyes; and when the pope made a 
momentary pause, he said: “ You are again altogether the 
good and brave brother Clement, but even he should think 
about sparing himself! ” is 

“ And to what end should he spare himself?” excitedly 
exclaimed Ganganelli; “ Death sits within me and laughs 
to scorn all my efforts, burying himself deeper and deeper 


il i "calf 


THE DOOMING LETTER. 393 


in my inward life. You must know, Lorenzo, that my cause 
of sorrow is precisely this, that I now live in vain, and that 
I cannot finish what I began! I wished to make my people 
happy and free; that was what alarmed all these princes, 
that was an unheard-of innovation, and they have all put 
their heads together and whispered to each other, ‘ He will 
betray to mankind that they have rights of which we have 
robbed them. He wishes to give back to mankind his in- 
herited portion of the booty! But what will then become 
of us? Will not our slaves rise up against us, demanding 
their human rights? We cannot suffer such innovations, 
for they involve our destruction!’ Thus have they cried, 
and in their anxiety they have decided upon my death! 
Then they threw me in a crumb exactly suited to my 
dreams of improving the happiness of the people; they all 
consented that I should relieve mankind from that danger- 
ous tapeworm, Jesuitism, and with secret laughter thought, 
“It will be the death of him!’ And they were right, these 
sly princes, it will be the death of me! I have abolished 
the order of Jesuits—in consequence of which I shall die 
—but the Jesuits will live, and live forever!” 

The echo of approaching footsteps was now heard, and, 
sinking with fatigue, he directed Lorenzo to go and meet 
the intruder, and by no means to let any one penetrate to 
him. 

Returning alone, Lorenzo handed the pope a letter. 

“The courier whom you sent out some days since, has 
returned,” said he. “ This is his dispatch.” 

Taking the letter, with a sad smile, the pope weighed it 


in his hand. “ How light is this little sheet,” said he, “and 
26 


394 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


yet how heavy are its contents! Do you know what this 
letter contains, Lorenzo?” 

“How can I? A poor cloister brother is not all-know- 
ing!” 

“ This letter,” said the pope, with solemnity, “ brings me 
life or death. It is the answer of the learned physician, 
Professor Brunelli, of Bologna!” | 

“You have written to him?” asked Lorenzo, turning 
pale. 

“TJ wrote him, particularly describing my condition and 
sufferings; in God’s name I conjured him to tell me the 
truth, and Brunelli is a man of honor; he will doit! Am 
I right, therefore, in saying that the contents of this letter 
are very heavy?” 

Lorenzo trembled, and, grasping the pope’s hand, he 
hastily and anxiously said: “No, read it not. Of what use 
will it be to learn its contents? It is tempting God ta en- 
deavor to learn the future in advance! Let me destroy this 
fatal letter !”’ 

“Of what use is it to know its contents?” asked the 
pope. “That I may either prepare for death, or resume a 
cheerful, hopeful life. Leave me, Lorenzo; I must read 
this letter !” 

And, while his faithful servant respectfully stood back, 
Ganganelli broke the seal. 

A pause ensued—a long, excruciating pause! Lorenzo, 
kneeling, prayed—Pope Ganganelli read the letter of the 
physician of Bologna. His face had assumed a mortal pal- 
lor; while reading, his lips trembled, and tear-drops rolled 
slowly down over his sunken cheeks. 





THE DOOMING LETTER. + ee 


Falling from his hand, the letter rustled to the earth; 
with hanging head and folded hands sat the pope. Lorenzo 
was still upon his knees praying. Ganganelli suddenly 
raised his head, his eyes were turned heayenward, a cheer- 
ful, God-given peace beamed from his eyes, ahd with a clear, 
exulting voice, he said: “ Lord, Thy will be done! I re- 
sign myself to Thy holy keeping.” 

“ The letter, then, brings good news?” asked Lorenzo, 
misled by the joyfulness of the pope. “There is, then, no 
ground for the presentiments of death, and the learned doc- 
tor says you will live?” 

“The life eternal, Lorenzo!” said Ganganelli. “This 
letter confirms my suppositions! Brunelli is a man of 
honor, and he has told me the truth. Lorenzo, would you 
know what signifies this consuming fire, this weariness 
and relaxation of my limbs? It is the effect of Acqua To- 
fana!” 

“Oh, my God!” shrieked Lorenzo, “ you are poisoned !” 

“Trretrievably,” calmly responded the pope; “ Brunelli 
says it, and I feel in my burning entrails that he speaks the 
truth.” 

“And are there no remedies?” lamented Lorenzo, 
wringing his hands. “No means at least of prolonging 
your life?” 

“There is such a means; and Brunelli recommends it. 
The application of the greatest possible heat, the produc- 
tion of a continual perspiration, which may a little retard 
the progress of the evil, and perhaps prolong my life for a 
few weeks!” * 


* Archenholz, vol. v., 127. 


396 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


“Lorenzo, it is my duty to struggle every day with 
death. I have yet much to complete before I die, yet much 
labor before I go to my eternal rest, and, as far as I can, I 
must bring to an end what I have commenced for the wel- 
fare of my people! Come, Lorenzo, let us return to the 
Vatican; set pans of coals in my room, procure me furs and 
a glowing hot sun! I would yet live some weeks!” 

With feverish impetuosity Ganganelli grasped Lorenzo’s 
arm and drew him away. ‘Then, suddenly stopping, he 
turned toward his favorite place. 

“Lorenzo,” he said in a low tone, and with deep sad- 
ness, “it was yet very pleasant in the Franciscan cloister. 
Why did we not remain there? Only see, my friend, how 
beautifully the sun glitters there among the pines, and how 
delightfully this air fans us! Ah, Lorenzo, this world is 
so beautiful, so very beautiful! Why must I leave it so 
soon?” 

Lorenzo made no answer; he could not speak for tears. 

Ganganelli cast a long and silent glance around him, 
greeting with his eyes the trees and flowers, the green earth 
and the blue sky. 

“ Farewell, farewell, thou beautiful Nature!” he whis- 
pered low. “We take our last leave of each other. I shall 
never again see these trees or this grassy seat.. But you, 
Lorenzo, will I establish as the guardian of this place, and 
when you sometimes sit here in the still evening hour, then 
will you think of me! Now come, we must away. Feel 
you not this cool and gentle air? Oh, how refreshingly it 
fans and cools, but I dare not enjoy it—not I! This cool- 
ing cuts off a day from my life!” 


i i ee ee le 





THE DOOMING LETTER. 397 


And with the haste of a youth, Ganganelli ran down the 
alley. Bathed with perspiration, breathless with heat, he 
arrived at the palace. 

“ Now give me furs, bring pans of coals, Lorenzo, shut 
all the doors and windows. Procure me a heat that will 
shut out death—!” 

But death nevertheless came; the furs and coverings, 
the steaming coal-pans with which the pope surrounded 
himself, the glowing atmosphere he day.and night inhaled, 
and which quite prostrated his friends and servants, all 
that could only keep off death for some few weeks, not 
drive it away. More dreadful yet than this blasting heat 
with which Ganganelli surrounded himself, yet more hor- 
rible, was the fire that consumed his entrails and burned in 


» his blood. 


Finally, withered and consumed by these external and 
internal fires, the pope greeted Death as a deliverer, and 
sank into his arms with a smile. 

But no sooner had he respired his last breath, no sooner 
had the death-rattle ceased in his throat, and no sooner had 
death extinguished the light of his eyes, than the cold 
corpse exhibited a most horrible change. 

The thin white hair fell off as if blown away by a breath 
of air, the loosened teeth fell from their sockets, the for- 
merly quietly smiling visage became horribly distorted, the 
nose sank in and the eyes fell out, the muscles of all his 
limbs became relaxed as if by a magic stroke, and the rap- 
idly putrefying members fell from each other. 

The pope’s two physicians, standing near the bed, looked 
with terror upon the frightful spectacle. 


398 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


“ He was, then, right,” murmured the physician Barbi, 
folding his hands, “‘ he was poisoned. These are the effects 
of the Acqua Tofana!” 

Salicetti, the second physician, shrugged his shoulders 
with a contemptuous smile. “Think as you will,” said he, 
“for my part I shall prove to the world that Pope Clement 
XIV. died a natural death.” 

Thus saying, Salicetti left the chamber of death with a 
proud step, betaking himself to his own room, to commence 
his history of Ganganelli’s last illness, in which, despite the 
arsenic found in the stomach of the corpse and despite the 
fact that all Rome was convinced of the poisoning of the 
pope, and named his murderer with loud curses, he en- 
deavored to prove that Ganganelli died of a long-concealed 
scrofula ! * 

And while Ganganelli breathed out his last sigh, re- 
sounded the bells of St. Peter’s, thundered the cannon of 
Castle Angelo, and the curious people thronged around the 
Vatican, where the conclave was in solemn session for the 
choice of a new pope. Thousands stared up to the palace, 
thousands prayed upon their knees, until at length the doors 
of the balcony, behind which the conclave was in session, 
were opened, and the papal master of ceremonies made his 
appearance upon it. 

At a given signal the bells became silent, the cannon 
ceased to thunder, and breathlessly listened the crowd. 

The master of ceremonies advanced to the front of the 
balcony. A pause—a silent, dreadful pause! His voice 


* Archenholz, vol. v., p. 125; Gorani, vol. ii., p 45, 





THE DOOMING LETTER. 399 


then resounded over the great square, and the listeners 
heard these words: “ Habemus pontificem maximum Pium 
VI.!” (We have Pope Pius VI.) 

And the bells rang anew, the cannon thundered, drums 
beat, and trumpets sounded ; upon the balcony appeared the 
new pope, Juan Angelo Braschi, Pius VI., bestowing his 
blessing upon the kneeling people. 

As they now had a new pope, nothing remained to be 
done for the deceased pope but to bury him ; and they buried 
him. 

In solemn procession, followed by all the cardinals and 
high church officials, surrounded by the Swiss guards, the 
tolling of the bells and the dull rolling of the muffied drums, 
the solemn hymns of the priests, moved the funeral cortége 
from the Vatican to St. Peter’s church. In the usual open 
coffin lay the corpse of the deceased pope, that the people 
migh see him for the last time. As they passed the bridge 
of St. Angelo, when the coffin had reached the middle of 
the bridge, arose a shriek of terror from thousands of 
throats! A leg had become severed from the body and 
hung out of the coffin, swinging in a fold of the winding- 
sheet. Cardinal Albani, who walked near the coffin, was 
touched on the shoulder by the loosely swinging limb, and 
turned pale, but he yet had the courage to push it back into 
the coffin. The people loudly murmured, and shudderingly 
whispered to each other: “ The dead man has touched his 
murderer. They have poisoned him, our good pope! His 
members fall apart. That is the effect of Acgua Tofana.” * 


* Archenholz relates yet another case where the Acqua Tofana 
had a similar violent and sudden effect. “A respectable Roman 


400 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


The infernal work had therefore proved successful, the 
vengeance was complete—Ganganelli was no more, and 
upon the papal throne sat Braschi, the friend of the Jesuits 
and of Cardinal Albani, to whom he had promised the 
crowning of the improvisatrice Corilla. 

And as this cost nothing to the miserly Pope Pius, he 
this time found no inconvenience in keeping his sacred 
promise, though not so promptly as Corilla and the passion- 
ate cardinal desired. 

Not until 1776, almost two years after Braschi had 
mounted the papal throne, took place the crowning of the 
improvisatrice in the capitol at Rome. 

She had therefore attained the object of her wishes. 
She had finally reached it by bribery and intrigue, by hypo- 
critical tenderness, by the resignation of her maiden mod- 
esty and womanly honor, and by all the arts of coquetry. 

But this triumph of hers was not to be untroubled. The 
nobtli shouted for her, and the cardinals and princes of the 
Church, but the people accompanied her to the capitol with 
hissing and howling. Poems came fluttering down on all 
sides; the first that fell upon Corilla’s head, Cardinal Al- 
bani eagerly seized and unfolded for the purpose of read- 
ing it aloud. But after the first few lines his voice was 
lady, who was young and beautiful, and had many admirers, made 
in the year 1778 a similar experiment, to rid herself of an old hus- 
band. As the dose was rather strong, death was followed by the 
rapid and violent separation of the members, They employed all pos- 
sible means tv retain the body in a human form until the funeral was 
over. The face was covered with a waxen mask, and by this means 
was the condition of the corpse concealed. This separation of the 


members seems to be the usual effect of this poison, and is said to 00 
eur as soon as the body is cold.”—Archenholz, vol. v., p. 126. 





THE DOOMING LETTER. 401 


silenced—it was an abusive poem, full of mockery and 
scorn. 

But nevertheless she was crowned. She still stood upon 
the capitol, with the laurel-crown upon her brow, cheered 
by her respectable protectors and friends. But the people 
joined not in those cheers, and, as the exulting shouts 
ceased, there swelled up to the laurel-crowned poetess, from 
thousands of voices, a thundering laugh of scorn, and this 
scornful laugh, this hissing and howling of the people, ac- 
companied her upon her return from the capitol, following 
her through the streets to her own door. The people had 
judged her! 

Corilla was no poetess by the grace of God, and only 
by the grace of man had she been crowned as queen of 
poesy ! 

Mortified, crushed, and enraged, she fled from Rome to 
Florence. She knew how to flatter the great and win 
princes. She was a princess-poetess, and the people rejected 
her! 

But the laurel was hers. She was sought and esteemed, 
the princes admired her, and Catharine of Russia fulfilled 
the promise Orloff had made the improvisatrice in the name 
of the empress. Corilla received a pension from Russia. 
Russia has always promptly and liberally paid those who 
have sold themselves and rendered services to her. Russia 
is very rich, and can always send so many thousands of her 
best and noblest to work in the mines of Siberia, that she 
can never lack means for paying her spies and agents. 


402 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


~ CHAPTER XLII. 


THE RUSSIAN OFFICER. 


WirH Carlo’s death, Natalie had lost her last friend ; 
with the stolen money and diamonds, Marianne was robbed 
of her last pecuniary means. But Natalie paid no attention 
to Marianne’s lamentations. What cared she for poverty — 
and destitution—what knew she of these outward treasures, 
of this wealth consisting in gold and jewels? Natalie knew 
only that she had been robbed of a noble, spiritual posses- 
sion—that they had murdered the friend who had conse- 
crated himself to her with such true and devoted love, 
and, weeping over his body, she dedicated to him the trib- 
ute of a tear of the purest gratitude, of saddest lamenta- 
tion. 

But. so imperfect is the world that it often leaves no 
time for mourning—that in the midst of our sorrow it 
causes us to hear the prosaic voices of reality and necessity, 
compelling us to dry our eyes and turning our thoughts 
‘from painfully-sweet remembrances of a lost happiness to 
the realities of practical life. 

Natalie’s delicately-sensitive soul was to experience this 
rough contact of reality, and, with an internal shudder, 
must she bend under the rough hand of the present. 

Pale, breathless, trembling, rushed Marianne into the 
room where Natalie, in solitary mourning, was weeping for 
her lost friend. 

“We are ruined, hopelessly ruined!” screamed Mari- 
anne. “They will drive us from our last possession, they 








THE RUSSIAN OFFICER. 403 


will turn us out of our house! All the misfortunes of the 
whole world break over and crush us!” 

The young maiden looked at her with a calm, clear 
glance. 

“Then let them crush us,” she quietly said. “It is bet- 
ter to be crushed at once than to be slowly and lingeringly 
wasted ! ” 

“ But you hear me not, princess,” shrieked Marianne, 
wringing her hands. “They will drive us from here, I tell 
you; they will expel you from your house!” 

“And who will do that?” asked the young maiden, 
proudly rising with flashing eyes. ‘“ Who dares threaten 
me in my own house ?” 

“ Without are soldiers and bailiffs and the officers of the 
Russian embassy. They have made a forcible entrance, 
and with force they will expel you from the house. They . 
are already sealing the doors and seizing everything in the 
house.” 

A dark purple glow for a moment overspread Natalie’s 
cheeks, and her glance was flame. “I will see,” said she, 
“who has the robber-like boldness to dispute my possession 
of my own property !” 

With proud steps and elevated head she strode through 
the room to the door opening upon the corridor. 

The bailiffs and soldiers, who had been placed there, re- 
spectfully stood aside. Natalie paid no attention to them, 
but immediately advanced to the officer who, with a loud 
voice, was just then commanding them to seal all the doors 
and see that nothing was taken from the rooms. 

“T wish to know,” said Natalie, with her clear, silver- 


404 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


toned voice—*I wish to know by what right people here 
force their way into my house, and what excuse you have 
for this shameless conduct?” 3 

The officer, who was no other than Stephano, bowed to 
her with a slightly ironical smile. 

“ Justice needs no excuse,” said he. “On the part and 
by command of her illustrious majesty, the great Empress 
Catharine, I lay an attachment upon this house and all it 
contains. It is from this hour the sacred possession of her 
Russian majesty.” 

“Tt is the exclusive property of the Count Paulo!” 
proudly responded Natalie. 

“It was the property of Count Paul Rasczinsky,” said 
Stephano. “But convicted traitors have no property. 
This criminal count has been convicted of high-treason. 
The mercy of the empress has indeed changed the sentence 
of death into one of eternal banishment to Siberia, but she 
has been pleased to approve the confiscation of all he pos- 
sessed. In virtue of this approval, and by permission of the 
holy Roman government, I attach this house and its con- 
tents!” 

Natalie no longer heard him. Almost unconscious lay 
she in Marianne’s arms. Paulo was lost, sentenced to death, 
imprisoned, and banished for life—that was all she had 
heard and comprehended—this terrible news had confused 
and benumbed her senses. 

“Sir!” implored Marianne, pressing Natalie to her 
bosom, “ you will at least have some mercy upon this young 
maiden; you will not thrust us out upon the streets; 
you will grant us a quiet residence in this house until 


THE RUSSIAN OFFICER. 405 


we can collect our effects and secure what is indisputably 
ours!” 

“ Every thing in this house is the indisputable property 
of the empress!” roughly responded Stephano. 

“ But not ourselves, I hope!” excitedly exclaimed Mari- 
anne. ‘ This imperial power does not extend over our per- 
sons?” 

Stephano roughly replied : “The door stands open, go! 
But go directly, or I shall be compelled to arrest you for 
opposing the execution of the laws, and stirring up sedi- 
tion!” 

“ Yes, let us go,” cried Natalie, who had recovered her 

consciousness—“ let us go, Marianne. Let us not remain a 
- moment longer in a house belonging to that barbarous Rus- 
sian empress who has condemned the noble Count Paulo as 
a criminal, and, robber-like, taken forcible possession of his 
property !” 

And, following the first impulse of her noble pride, the 
young maiden took Marianne by the hand and drew her 
away. 

“They, at least, shall not forcibly eject us,” said she; 
**no, no, we will go of our own free will, self-banished !” 

“But where shall we go?” cried Marianne, wringing 
her hands. 

“ Where God wills!” solemnly responded the young 
maiden. 

“And upon what shall we live?” wailed Marianne. 
“We are now totally destitute and helpless. How shall we 
live ? ” 

“We will work!” said Natalie, firmly. A peculiar calm 


406 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


had come over her. Misfortune had awakened a new 
quality in her nature, sorrow had struck a new string in her 
being; she was no longer the delicate, gentle, suffering, © 
unresisting child; she felt in herself a firm resolution, a 
bold courage, an almost joyful daring, and an invincible 
calmness. 

“Work! Yow will work, princess?” whispered Mari- 
anne. 

“T will learn it!” said she, and with a constantly quick- 
ened step they approached the outlet of the garden. 

The gate which led out into the street was wide open ; 
saldiers in the Russian uniform had been stationed before 
it, keeping back with their carbines the curious Romans 
who crowded around in great numbers, glad of an oppor- 
tunity to get a peep into the so-long-closed charmed gar- 
den. 

“ See, there she comes, the garden fairy !” cried they all, 
as Natalie neared the gate. 

“ How beautiful she is, how beautiful!” they loudly ex- 
claimed. 

“ That is a real fairy, a divinity!” 

Natalie heard none of these expressions of admiration— 
she had but one object, one thought. She wished to leave 
the garden; she wished to go forth; she had no regrets, no 
complaints, for this lost paradise; she only wished to get 
out of it, even if it was to go to her death. 

But the soldiers stationed at the gate opposed her prog- 
ress. 

Natalie regarded them with terror and amazement. 

“They cannot, at least, oppose my voluntary resigna- 





THE RUSSIAN OFFICER. 407 


tion of my property,” said she. “ Away with these muskets 
and sabres! I would pass out!” 

And the young maiden boldly advanced a step. But 
those weapons stretched before her like a wall, and Natalie 
was now overcome by anguish and despair; the inconsolable 
feeling of her total abandonment, of her miserable isolation. 
Tears burst from her eyes, her pride was broken, she wag 
again the trembling young girl, no longer the heroic 
woman; she wept, and in tremulous tone, with folded 
hands, she implored of these rough soldiers a little mercy, 
a little compassion. 

They understood not her language, they had no sympa- 
thy; but the crowd were touched by the tears of the beauti- 
ful girl and by the sad lamentations of her companion. 
They screamed, they howled, they insulted the soldiers, 
they swore to liberate the two women by force, if the sol- 
diers any longer refused them a passage. Dumb, unshaken, 
immovable, like a wall stood the soldiers with their weapons 
stretched forth. 

Through the hissing and tumult a loud and command. 
ing voice was suddenly heard to ask, “ What is going on 
here? What means this disturbance?” An officer made 
his way through the crowd, and approached the garden 
gate. The soldiers respectfully gave way, and he stepped 
into the garden. 

* Oh, sir,” said Natalie, turning to him her tearful face, 
“if you are an honorable man, have compassion for an 
abandoned and unprotected maiden, and command these 
soldiers, who seem to obey you, to let me and my companion 
go forth unhindered.” 


408 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


The Russian officer, Joseph Ribas, bowed low and re- 
spectfully to her. “If it is the Princess Tartaroff whom I 
have the honor of addressing,” said he, “ I must in the name 
of my illustrious lord, beg your pardon for what has im- 
properly occurred here ; at his command I come to set it all 
right!” 

Thus speaking, he returned to the soldiers, and in a low 
tone exchanged some words with their leader. The latter 
bowed respectfully, and at his signal the soldiers shut the 
gate and retired into the street. 

“Am I to be detained here as a prisoner?” ex- 
claimed Natalie. “Am I not allowed to leave this gar- 
den?” 

“Your grace, preliminarily, can still consider this gar: 
den as your own property,” he respectfully responded. “I 
am commanded to watch that no one dare to disturb you 
here, and for this purpose my lord respectfully requests that 
you will have the goodness to permit me to remain in your 
house as the guardian of your safety.” 

“ And who is this generous man?” asked Natalie. 

“He is a man who has made a solemn vow to protect 
innocence everywhere, when he finds it threatened!” sol- 
emnly responded Joseph Ribas. “He is a man who is 
ready to shed his blood for the Princess Tartaroff, who is 
surrounded by enemies and dangers; a man,” he continued, 
in a lower tone, “who knows and loves your friend and 
guardian, Count Paulo, and will soon bring you secret and 
sure news from him!” 

“ He knows Count Paulo!” joyfully exclaimed Natalie. 
“Oh, then all is well. I may safely confide in whoever 





THE RUSSIAN OFFICER. 409 


knows and loves Count Paulo, for he must bear in his bosom 
a noble heart!” 

And turning to Joseph Ribas with a charming smile, she 
said, “Sir, lead me now where you will. We will both 
gladly follow you!” 

“Let us, first of all, go into the villa, and send away 
those troublesome people!” said the Russian officer, preced- 
ing the two women to the house. 

The bailiffs and soldiers were still there, occupied with 
sealing the doors and closets. Joseph Ribas approached 
them with angry glances, and, turning to Stephano, said, 
“ Sir, I shall call you to account for this over-hasty and ille- 
gal proceeding !” 

“T am in my right!” morosely answered Stephano. 
“Here is the command to attach this villa. It has fallen 
to the Russian crown as the property of the traitor Rasc- 
zinsky.” 

“There is only the one error to be corrected,” said 
Joseph Ribas, “that this villa was not the property of 
Count Rasczinsky, as he some months ago sold it to his 
friend, my master. And as, so far as I know, the illustrious 
count, my master, never was a traitor, you will please to re- 
spect his property !” 

* You will first have to authenticate your assertions!” 
responded Stephano, with a rude laugh. 

“ Here is the documental authentication!” said Joseph 
Ribas, handing a paper to Stephano. The latter, after at- 
tentively reading the documents, bowed reverentially, and 
said: “Sir, it appears that I was certainly mistaken. This 
deed of gift ° en régle, and is undersigned by his grace the 

2 


410 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


Russian ambassador. You will pardon me, as I only acted 
according to my orders.” 

Joseph Ribas answered Stephano’s reverential bow with 
a haughty nod. “Go,” said he, “take off the seals in the 
quickest possible time, and then away with you!” 

But as Stephano was about retiring with his people, 
Joseph Ribas beckoned him back again. 

“You have, therefore, recognized this deed of gift?” 
asked he, and as Stephano assented, he continued: “ You 
therefore cannot deny that my master is the undisputed 
possessor of this villa, and can do with it according to his 
pleasure ? ” 

“T do not deny it at all!” growled Stephano. 

Joseph Ribas then drew forth another paper, which he 
also handed Stephano. “ You will also recognize this deed 
of gift to be regular and legal! It is likewise undersigned 
and authenticated by our ambassador.” 

Stephano, having attentively read it, almost indignantly 
said : 

“Tt is all right. But the count is crazy, to give away 
so fine a property !” 

And still grumbling, he departed with his people. 

Clinging to Marianne’s side, Natalie had observed the 
whole proceeding with silent wonder; and, with the aston- 
ishment of innocence and inexperience, she comprehended 
nothing of the whole scene, nor was a suspicion awakened 
in her childishly pure soul. 

“‘ He is, then, really going?” she asked, as Stephano was 
slowly moving off. 

“Yes, he is going,” said Joseph Ribas, “and will never 


THE RUSSIAN OFFICER, 411 


venture to disturb you again. Henceforth you will be in 
undisputed possession of your property. My lord has made 
this villa and garden forever yours by a regular legal deed 
of gift.” 

“ And who is your lord?” asked Natalie. ‘ Tell me his 
name—tell me where I may find him, that I may return 
him my thanks?” 

_ “Yes, conduct us to him,” said the weeping Marianne. 
“ Let me clasp his feet and implore his further protection 
for my poor helpless princess.” 

“ My lord desires no thanks,” proudly responded Ribas. 
“ He does good for its own sake, and protects innocence be- 
cause that is the duty of every knight and nobleman.” 

“ At least tell me his name, that I may pray for him,” 
sobbed Marianne. 

“ Yes, his name,” said Natalie, with a charming smile. 
*“ Ah, how I shall love that name!” 

* His name is his own secret,” said Ribas. “The world, 
indeed, knows and blesses him, calling him the bravest of 
the brave. But it is his command that you shall never be 
informed of it. He desires nothing, no thanks, no ac- 
knowledgments—he wishes only to secure your peace and 
happiness, and thus redeem the solemn vow he made to 


_ his friend, Count Paulo Rasczinsky, to guard and preserve 


you as a father, and to watch over you as your tutelar 
genius! ” 

“ Thanks, thanks, my God!” cried Marianne, with her 
arms raised toward heaven. “Thou sendest us help in our 
need, Thou hast mercy on suffering innocence, and sendest 
her a saviour in her greatest distress!” 


412 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


The young maiden said nothing. Her radiant glance 
was directed heavenward, and, folding her hands over her 
bosom, with a happy, grateful smile she murmured : 

“Tam therefore no longer alone, I have a friend who ' 
watches over and protects me. Whoever he may be, he 
is sent by Count Paulo. Whatever may be his name, I 
shall be forever grateful to him!” 


CHAPTER XLIII. 


ANTICIPATION. 


From that day had a new and marvellous life com- 
menced for Natalie. She felt herself surrounded by a 
dreamy, magic, fantastic, supernatural life ; it seemed as if 
some invisible genius hovered over her, listening to all her 
thoughts, realizing all her wishes! And Joseph Ribas was 
the merry, always-cheerful, always-serviceable Kobold of 
this invisible deity ! 

“ My lord is not satisfied with the modest furnishing of 
your villa,” said he to Natalie, on the first day. ‘“ He begs 
to be allowed to adorn your chamber with a splendor suited 
to your rank and your future greatness!” 

“ And in what is my future greatness to consist?” asked 
the young maiden, with curiosity. 

“That will be made known to you at the proper time,” 
mysteriously replied Joseph Ribas. 

“Who will tell me?” 

** He, the count.” 


ANTICIPATION. 413 


“T shall therefore see him!” she joyfully exclaimed. 

“ Perhaps! Will you, however, first allow me to have 
your room properly furnished ?” 

“This villa belongs to your lord,” said Natalie. “It 
is for him, as lord and master, to do as he pleases in it.” 

And satisfied, Ribas hastened away, to return in a few 
hours with more than fifty workmen and artists, in order to 
commence the improvements. 

Until now the villa had been finished and furnished with 
simple elegance. One missed nothing necessary for com- 
fort or convenience, for pleasantness or taste. But it was 
still only the elegant and fashionable residence of a private 
person. Now, as by the stroke of a magic wand, this villa 
in a few days was converted into the splendid palace of 
some sultan or caliph. There were heavy Turkish carpets 
on the floors, velvet curtains with gold embroidery at the 
windows and on the walls, the richest and most comfortable 
divans and arm-chairs, covered with gold-embroidered 
stuffs; vases ornamented with the most costly precious 
stones, noble bronze statues, beautiful paintings, and be- 
tween them the rarest ornaments, glistening with jewels, 
which modern times have designated by the name of ribs; 
there were delicate little trifles of inestimable value, and 
with refined taste and judgment every thing was sought out 
which luxury and convenience could demand. With child- 
ish astonishment and ecstasy, Natalie wandered through 
these rooms, which she hardly recognized in their splendid 
ornamentation, and stood before these treasures of trifles 
which she hardly dared to touch. 

“This lord must be either a magician or a nabob,” 


414 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


thoughtfully remarked Marianne; “it must have required 
millions to effect all this.” 

Natalie asked neither whether he was a magician, a mil- 
lionaire, or a nabob; she only thought she was to see him, 
and be allowed to thank him—nothing further. 

‘“ Will he come now ?” she constantly asked of the hum- 
ble and slavishly devoted Joseph Ribas; “ will he come now 
that his house is prepared for his reception ?” 

“Tt is adorned only for you, princess,” humbly replied 
Ribas. “The count, my master, wishes for nothing but to 
see you in a habitation worthy of you!” 

But what was this luxury, what cared she for these 
treasures the value of which she was incapable of estimat- 
ing, and which were indifferent to her? She who had no 
conception of wealth or of money !—she, who knew not 
that there was poverty in the world, and who, raised in an 
Eden separated from the world, had no idea that hunger 
had ever made its appearance within it—she knew only the 
sorrows of the happy, the deprivations of the rich; she had 
never had either to struggle against real misfortune or to 
experience real want and deprivation. 

Now, indeed, a deeper sorrow had entered into her life ; 
she had lost her beloved paternal friend, Count Paulo; and 
Carlo, also, had been torn from her! That was certainly a 
more profound sorrow, and she had wept much for both of 
them,—but yet that was no real misfortune. She had never 
yet lost the whole substance of her life; for those two, 
however much she might always have loved them, had 
nevertheless, not entirely filled out her life; they had been 
a part of her happiness, but not that happiness itself. 





ANTICIPATION. 415 


And she awaited happiness! She awaited it with ecstasy 
and devotion, with feverish hope and glowing desire! She 
knew not and asked not in what this happiness was to con- 
sist, and yet her heart yearned for it; she called for this 
unknown and nameless happiness with a throbbing bosom 
and tremulously whispering lips! 

She was so much alone, she had so much time for dream- 
ing, and intoxicating herself with fantastic imaginations\ 
She was surrounded by a fabulous world, and she was the 
fairy of that world! But out of that fabulous world she 
sometimes longed to be, out of the ideal into the real; she 
yearned for truth and actuality. Then she would call Jo- 
seph Ribas to her side and bid him relate to her of that 
unknown lord, his master. 

He told her of his battles and his heroic deeds, of his 
wonderful acts of bravery, and the young maiden trem- 
blingly and shudderingly listened to him. She feared this 
man, who had shed streams of blood, and whose enemies 
with their dying lips had lauded as the greatest of heroes! 
And Joseph Ribas smiled when he saw her turn pale and 
tremble, and he would speak to her of his generosity and 
humanity, of his knighthood and virtue; he related to her 
how, on one occasion, at the risk of his life he had pro- 
tected and saved a persecuted young maiden; how on an- 
other he had taken pity on a helpless old man, and singly 
had defended him against a host of bloodthirsty enemies. 
He also spoke to her of the sorrow of his master on account 
of the ingratitude and deceptions he had experienced, and 
Natalie’s eyes filled with tears as, with reproachful glances, 
she asked of Heaven how it couid have permitted the virtue 


416 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


of this noble unknown hero to be so severely tried, and the 
baseness of mankind to trouble him. 

“That is it, then,” Ribas would often say; “he diffuses 
happiness everywhere around him, while he himself has it 
not! He makes glad and cheerful faces wherever he ap- 
pears, and his own is the only serious and sad brow. Man- 
kind have made him hopeless, and for himself he no longer 
believes in happiness !” 

Ah, how then did the heart of this innocent child trem- 
ble, and how she longed to find some means for restoring 
his belief in happiness. 

“But why does he not come to those who love 
him?” asked she. “Why does he decline the thanks of 
those whose hearts are truly devoted to him? Ah, in 
our humid eyes and joy-beaming faces he would recognize 
the truthfulness of our feelings! Why, then, comes he 
not?” 

“T will tell you,” said Ribas, with a smile; “he hates 
women, because the only one he ever loved was false to 
him, and now his love is changed to ardent hatred of all 
women!” 

“T shall therefore never see him!” sighed the girl, 
hanging her head with the sadness of disappointment. 

This expectation, this constantly increasing impatience, 
rendered her inaccessible to any other feeling, any other 
thought. He of whom she did not know even the name, 
was sent by Paulo, and therefore had she believed and con- 
fided in him from the first. Now had she already forgotten 
that she had confided in him on Paulo’s account; she be- 
lieved in him on his own account, and Paulo had retreated 


HE! 417 


into the background. Occasionally also the bloody image 
of poor Carlo presented itself to her mind, and she secretly 
reproached herself for having mourned him for so short a 
time, for having so soon forgotten that faithful, self-sacri- 
ficing friend. 

But even these reproaches were soon silenced when 
with a throbbing bosom she thought of this new friend, 
who like a divinity hovered over her at an infinite and un- 
attainable distance, and whose mysteriously active near- 
ness replaced both of those friends she had lost, and for 
whom she could no longer mourn. 





CHAPTER XLIV. 


HE! 


“Tr is now high time!” said Joseph Ribas, one day, as, 
coming from Natalie, he entered the boudoir of Count 
Alexis Orloff. “Now, your excellency, the right moment 
has come! You must now show yourself, or this curious 
child will consume herself with a longing that has changed 
her blood to fire! She thinks of nothing but you; with 
open eyes she dreams of you, and without the least suspicion 
that any one is listening to her, she speaks to you, ah, with 
what modest tenderness and with what humble devotion! 
I tell you, your excellency, you are highly blessed. There is 
no child more innocent, no woman more glowing with love. 
And she knows it not; no, she has not the least suspicion 
that she already loves you with enthusiasm, and thirsts for 


418 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


your kisses as the rose for the morning dew! She knows 
nothing of her love!” 

“ She shall learn something of it!” said Orloff, laughing. 
“Tt will be a pleasant task to enlighten this little unknow- 
ing one as to her own feelings. And I flatter myself I 
understand how to do that.” | 

“‘ Endeavor, above all things, your excellency, to realize 
the ideal she bears in her heart. She expects to see nothing 
less than an Apollo, whose radiant beauty. will annihilate 
her as Jupiter did Semele! ” 

“‘ Well, in that, I hope she has not deceived herself,” re- 
sponded Orloff, with a self-satisfied glance into the mirror. 
“Tf I am not Jupiter, yet they call me Hercules, and he, 
you know, was the son of Jupiter, and, indeed, his hand- 
somest son !” 

*“ And be you not only a Hercules, but a Zephyr and 
Apollo, at the same time. Make her tremble before your 
heroic character, and at the same time win her confidence 
in your humble, modest love—then is she yours. You must 
cautiously and noiselessly spread your nets, you must not 
wound her delicate sensitiveness by a word or look, or she 
will flee from you like a frightened gazelle!” 

“Oh, should she wish to flee, my arms are strong enough 
to hold her!” 

“ Yet it is better to hold her so fast by her own enthusi- 
asm, that she shall not wish to flee,” said Ribas. “ You 
must entirely intoxicate her with your humble and respect- 
ful love—then is she yours!” 

“Does she know I am coming?” thoughtfully asked 
Orloff. 


. 





HE! 419 


* No, she knows nothing of it. She sits in the garden 
and sighs, occasionally grasping the golden guitar that lies 
on her arm, and asks of the flowers: ‘ What is the name of : 
my unknown friend? In what star does he dwell, and how 
shall I invoke him?’ ” 

“] will, then, surprise her!” said Orloff. ‘“ Let her an- 
ticipate my coming, but do not promise it. It begins to 
grow dark. Where is she, evenings?” 

“ Always in the garden. There she sighs and dreams of 
you!” 

“ Persuade her to go into the house, and let it be well 
lighted up! I would appear to her in the full splendor of 
the lights! Ha, you ragamuffins, you hounds, bring me my 
oriental costume, the richest, handsomest; hasten, or I will 
throttle you!” 

And Count Orloff hurried into his toilet-chamber, to the 
trembling slaves who there awaited him. 

With a sly smile Joseph Ribas returned to the villa. As 
he had previously said, he found Natalie dreaming in the 
garden, the guitar upon her arm. 

“ You ought to go into the house this evening,” said he, 
“the air is damp and cold, and may injure you.” 

“Of what consequence would that be?” she sadly re- 
sponded. ‘“ Who would ask whether I was ill or not? Who 
would weep for my death?” 

“ He ! ”? 

“Oh, he!” sighed she. “ He hates all women!” 

“ Excepting you!’’ whispered Ribas. “ Princess, go into 
the house! Take care of your precious life. It is notI 
who beg it of you! ” 


420 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


“Who is it, then?” she hastily interposed. 

“Itis he! He begs it of you!” 

Natalie, springing up, hurried into the house. 

“‘T will never again go into the garden in the evening!” 
said she. “It is his command! Thank God, there is yet 
something in which I can obey, and he commands it of me! 
But why these lights?” asked she, almost blinded by the 
brilliancy of the girandoles and chandeliers, the mirrors, 
and jewels. 

“The count has so commanded!” said Ribas. “He 
loves a bright light! But, princess, cannot you remain in 
this boudoir for one evening? Only see how beautiful it 
is, how enticingly cool, with these fountains that refresh 
the air and diffuse fragrance! How delightfully still and 
snug it is! Reposing upon these velvet cushions, you can 
look through the whole suite of rooms, which in fact, to- 
night, flash and sparkle like the heavens, and yet in this 
boudoir there is a sweet twilight, refreshing to eye and 
heart!” | 

“ No, no,” said she, with a charming smile. “TI also like 
brightness and light! It is too dusky here!” 

“ Nevertheless, remain here !” 

“And why?” 

“He wishes it!” said Ribas mysteriously. 

“ He wishes it?” cried Natalie, turning pale, and trem- 
bling. Then, suddenly, a purple flush spread over her 
brow, and, reeling, she was obliged to hold bya chair to 
prevent falling. “Ah,” she stammered, “can it be possi- 
ble? Can this happiness be intended? Is it true, what I 
read in your eyes? Isit? Comes he here?” 


CC 


HE! 421 


“Hope always!” said ae suddenly disappearing 
through a side-door. 

Natalie, benumbed by surprise, sank down upon the 
divan. <A feeling of boundless anxiety, of immeasurable ec- 
stasy suddenly overcame her. She could have fled, but she 
felt as if spell-bound ; she could have concealed herself from 
him, and yet was joyfully ready to purchase with her life 
the happiness of seeing him. It was a strange mixture of 
delight and terror, of happiness and despair. She spread 
her arms toward heaven, she sought to pray, but she had no 
words, no thoughts, not even tears! 

A slight rustle made her rise. Almost with terror flew 
her glance through the suite of rooms. There below she 
saw the approach of something strange, singular, magical. 
It was a never-before-seen form, but surrounded by a won- 
derfully bright halo, enveloped in rich, glittering garments, 
such as she had never before seen. It was a strange, un- 
known face, but of a sublime, heroic beauty, proud and 
noble, bold and mild. 

“That is he!” she breathlessly and sadly murmured— 
“ ves, that is he! That is a manandahero! Ah, I shall 
die under his glance!” 

He still continued to approach, and with every forward 
step he made she felt her heart contract with anxiety, ad- 
miration, and a feverish sadness. 

Now he stood on the threshold of the boudoir—his 
glance fell upon her. And she? She lay, or rather half 
knelt upon the divan, motionless, pale as a marble statue, 
with that divine smile which we admire in ancient sculp- 
ture. 


4992 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


Touching was she to behold, white and delicate as a lily, 
so humble and devoted, so shelter-needing and love-im- 
ploring ! 

But Count Orloff felt neither sympathy nor compassion. 
He saw only that she was beautiful as an angel, an admi- 
rable woman, whom he desired to possess ! 

Proud as a king, and at the same time very reverential 
and submissive, he approached and sank upon his knee be- 
fore the divan’ upon which she reclined in trembling yet 
blissful sadness. 

“ Princess Natalie,” he murmured low, “ will you be an- 
gry with your slave for daring to intrude upon you without 
knowing whether he would be welcome?” 

She breathed freer. It was a relief to her to hear his 
voice—it made her feel easier. He was no magician, no 
demon, he was a man, and spoke to her with human words! 
That gave her courage and strength, it gave her back the 
consciousness of her own dignity. She was ashamed of her 
anxiety, her trembling, her childish helplessness. Yet she 
could say nothing, answer nothing. She only gave him her 
hand, with a charming smile, an inimitable grace, and wel- 
comed him with a silent inclination of the head. 

Taking her hand he pressed it to his lips. His touch 
seemed to kindle in her an electric glow, and with some- 
thing like alarm she withdrew her hand. 

“ Are you, then, angry with me?” he asked in a tone of 
sadness. 

“No,” said she, “I am not angry, but I fear you. You 
are so great a hero, and your sword has done so many brave 
deeds. I looked at your sword, and it alarmed me.” 


HE! 423 


Count Orloff gave her a surprised and interrogating 
glance. Why said she that? Had she some suspicion, some 
mistrust, or was it only a presentiment, an inexplicable in- 
stinct, that made her tremble at his sword ? 

“No, she suspects nothing,” thought he, as he gazed 
upon that pure, innocent, childish brow, which was turned 
toward him in pious confidence, and yet with timid hesita- 
tion. 

He loosened his sword from his girdle, sparkling with 
diamonds, and humbly laid both at Natalie’s feet. 

“ Princess,” said he, “the empress herself girded me 
with this sword, and I swore it should never leave my side 
but with my life. You are dearer to me than my life or my 
honor, and I therefore break my sacred oath. Take my 
sword, I am now without arms, and you will no longer have 
occasion to tremble before me.” . 

She smilingly shook her head. “ You still remain a 
hero, though without arms—it lies in your eyes!” 

“JT would close my eyes,” said he, “but then I should 
not see you, princess, and I have already so long languished 
for a sight of you!” 

“Why, then, came you not sooner?” she asked, now 
feeling herself entirely cheerful and unembarrassed. “ Oh, 
did you but know how impatiently I have awaited you! ” 

And with childish innocence she began to relate how 
much she had thought of him, how often she had dreamed 
of him, how she had sometimes spoken aloud to him, and 
almost thought she heard his answers ! 

Count Orloff listened to her with surprise and delight. 
Thus had he not expected to find her, so childishly cheer- 


494 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


ful, so charmingly innocent, and yet at the same time with 
so much maidenly reserve, so much natural dignity. Now 
she laughed like a child, now was her face serious and 
proud, now again tender and timid. She was at once a 
timid child and a glowing woman; she was innocent as an 
angel, and yet so full of sweet, unconscious maiden coquetry. 
She enchanted, while inspiring devotion, she excited pas- 
sions and desires, while, with a natural maiden dignity, she 
kept one within the bounds of respect. She was entirely 
different from what Orloff had expected ; perhaps less beau- 
tiful, less dazzling, but infinitely more lovely. She en- 
chanted him with her smile, and her innocent childish face 
touched him. 

“‘ Speak on, speak on!” said he, when she became silent. 
“Tt is delightful to listen to you, princess.” 

“Why do you call me so?” asked she, with a slight con- 
traction of her brow. “Itis such a strange, cold word! 
It does not at all belong to me, and it is only within the 
last few months that I have been thus addressed. With 
wise and tender forbearance, Paulo long delayed informing 
me that I was a princess, and that was beautiful in him. 
To be a princess and yet an orphan, a poor, deserted, help- 
less child, living upon the charity of a friend, and tremu- 
lously clinging to his protecting hand! See, that is what 
I am, a poor orphan; why, then, do you call me princess!” 

*“‘ Because you are so in reality,” responded Orloff, press- 
ing the hem of her garment to his lips—‘ because I am 
come to lead you to your splendid and powerful future !— 
because I will glorify you above all women on earth, and 
make you mistress of this great empire.” 





HE! 425 


She regarded him with a dreamy smile. ‘“ You speak as 
Paulo often spoke to me,” said she. ‘“ He also swore to me 
that he would one day place an imperial crown upon my 
head, and elevate me to great power! I understood him as 
little as I understand you!” 

.A slight scornful smile momentarily passed over Or- 
loff’s features. “Catharine has therefore rightly divined,” 
thought he, “and her wise mind rightly understood this 
Rasczinsky. There was, indeed, question of an imperial 
crown, and this was to have been the new little em- 
press!” 

Aloud he said: “ You will soon understand me, prin- 
cess, and it is time you knew of what crown Paulo spoke.” 

“T know it not,” said she, “nor do I desire to know 
it! Perhaps it was a jest, with which he sought to con- 
sole me when I complained of being a homeless orphan, a 
poor child, who knew not even the name of her mother!” 

* Do you not know that?” exclaimed Orloff, with aston- 
ishment. 

She sadly shook her head. “They would never tell it 
me,” said she. “But I have her image in my heart, and 
that, at least, I shall never lose or forget!” 

“‘T knew your mother,” said Orloff; “ she was beautiful 
as you are, and mild and merciful.” 

“ You knew her!” exclaimed the young maiden, grasp- 
ing his hand and looking at him with a confiding friendli- 
ness. “Oh, you knew her! You will now be doubly dear 
to me, for those bright eyes have seen my mother, and per- 
haps this hand which now rests in mine has also touched 


hers!” 


426 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


“ That,” said Count Orloff, with a smile, “I should not 
have dared to do; it would have been high-treason ! ” 

“ Was she, then, so great and sublime a princess ?” asked 
Natalie. 

“She was an empress! ” 

“An empress!” And the young maiden, sprang up 
with beaming eyes and glowing cheeks. “My mother was 
_ an empress!” said she, breathing hard. 

“ Kmpress Elizabeth of Russia.” 

Overcome by the feelings suddenly excited by this news, 
Natalie sank again upon her seat and covered her face with 
her hands. Tears gushed out between her delicate, slender 
fingers; her whole being was in violent, feverish commotion. 
Then, raising her arms toward heaven, with a celestial smile, 
while the tears overflowed her face, she said: “I am, then, 
no longer a homeless orphan; I have a fatherland, and my 
mother was an empress!” 

Count Orloff respectfully kissed the hem of her gar. 
ment. 

“You are the daughter of an empress,” said he, “and 
will yourself be an empress! That was what Paulo wished, 
and therefore have they condemned him as a criminal. 
What he was unable to accomplish must be done by me, and 
for that purpose have I come. | Princess Natalie, your 
fatherland calls you, your throne awaits you! Follow me 
to your crowning in the city of your fathers—follow me, 
that I may place the crown of your grandfather, Peter the 
Great, upon your noble and beautiful head!” 





THE WARNING. 427 


CHAPTER XLYV. 


THE WARNING. 


From this time forward Alexis Orloff was the insepara- 
ble companion of Natalie. With the most reverential sub- 
mission, and at the same time with the tenderest affection, 
seemed he to be devoted to her, and equally to adore her as 
his empress and his beloved. 

He took pains to represent to her that she was necessa- 
rily and inevitably destined to become an empress. 

And she had comprehended him but too well. Ambition 
was awakened in this young maiden of eighteen years; it 
was an imperial crown that called her—why should she not 
listen to this call coming from the lips of one in whom she 
had unlimited confidence, and toward whom she felt infi- 
nitely grateful ? 

He had unfolded and explained all to her. He had told 
her of her mother, the good Empress Elizabeth, who had 
made Russia so great and happy; he had explained to her 
how Count Paulo Rasczinsky had flown with her on the day 
of her mother’s death, in order to preserve her from the 
* pursuits of her mother’s successor, the cunning and cruel 
Peter III., and to insure her the realm at a later period. 
He had then spoken to her of Catharine, who had forcibly 
possessed herself of the throne of her unworthy husband, 
and taken the reins of government into her own hands. 
He had spoken to her of Catharine’s cruelty and despotic 
tyranny; he had told her that all Russia groaned under 
the oppression of this foreigner, and that a universal cry 


428 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


was heard through the whole realm, of lamentation and 
longing, a cry for her, the Russian princess, the grand- 
daughter of Peter the Great, the daughter of the beloved 
Elizabeth. 

“You are called for by all these millions of your op- 
pressed subjects now trodden in the dust,” said he; “ toward 
you they stretch forth their trembling hands, from you they 
expect relief and consolation, from you they expect happi- 
ness !”’ 

“ And I will bring them happiness,” exclaimed Natalie, 
with emotion. “I will dry the tears of misery and console 
the suffering. Oh, my people shall love me as my mother 
once did!” 

“The noblest of the land have pledged their property 
and their lives to give you back to your people,” said Or- 
loff; “we have solemnly sworn it upon the altar of God, 
and for the attainment of this end no one of us will shun 
want or death, treason or revolt. Look at me, Natalie! I 
stand before you as a traitor to this empress, to whom I 
have sworn faith and obedience; she has heaped favors 
upon me, and at one time I was even passionately devoted 
to her! But Count Paulo awoke me from that intoxica- 
tion ; he roused me from the condition of a favorite of the 
empress; he taught me to see the cruel, bloodthirsty em- 
press in her true form; he spoke to me of your sacred 
rights, and when I recognized and comprehended them, I 
collected myself, vowed myself your knight, devoting my- 
self to the defence of your rights, and swore to leave nq 
artifice, no dissimulation, nor even treason itself, unessayed 
for the promotion of this great, this sublime object! Prin, 


THE WARNING. 499 


cess Natalie, for your sake I have become a traitor! The 
admiral of the Russian fleet, he whom the world calls the 
favorite of the empress, Count Alexis Orloff, lies at your 
feet and swears to you eternal faith, devotion, and adora- 
tion!” 

“ Alexis Orloff!” she joyfully exclaimed, “at length, 
then, I have a name by which I can call you! Alexis, was 
not that the name of my father? Oh, that is a good omen! 
You bear the name of my father, whom my mother so 
dearly loved !” 

“ And whom the empress, impelled by love, raised to 
the position of her husband,’’ whispered Orloff, bending 
nearer to her and pressing her hand to his bosom. Could 
you, indeed, love as warmly and devotedly as your mother 
loved her Alexis?” 

The young maiden blushed and trembled, but a sweet 
smile played upon her lips, and although she cast down her 
eyes and did not look at him, yet Count Orloff saw that he 
had given no offence, and might venture still further. 

He gently encircled her delicate form with his arm, and, 
inclining his mouth so close to her ear that she felt his 
hot breath upon her cheek, whispered : “ Will Natalie love 
her Alexis as Elizabeth loved Alexis Razumovsky? Ah, 
you know not how boundlessly, how immeasurably I love 
you! Yes, immeasurably, Natalie. You are my happiness, 
my life, my future. Command me, rule me, make of me a 
traitor, a murderer! I will do whatever you command; at 
your desire I could even murder my own father! Only tell 
me, Natalie, that you do not hate me; tell me that my love 
will not be rejected by you; that this passion, under which 


430 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


I almost succumb, has found an echo in your heart, and 
that you will one day say to me, as Elizabeth said to your 
father, ‘ Alexis, I love you, and will therefore make you my 
husband!’ You are silent, Natalie; have you no word of 
sympathy, of Cae cite for me? Ah, I offer up all to 
you, and you—” 

- He could proceed no further; he saw her turn toward 
him; he suddenly felt a glowing kiss upon his lips, and 
then, springing up from her seat, she fled through the 
rooms like a frightened roe, and took refuge in her boudoir, 
which she locked behind her. 

Orloff glanced after her with a triumphant smile. “She 
is mine,” thought he; “I am here living through a charm- 
ing romance, and Catharine will be satisfied with me!” 

Yes, she was his; she now knew that she loved him, 
and with joyful ecstasy she took this new and delightful 
feeling to her heart; she welcomed it as the joy-promising 
dawn of a new day, a precious new life. She permitted this 
feeling to stream through her whole being, her whole soul ; 
she made it a worship for her whole existence. 

“You see,” she said to Marianne, “so had I dreamed 
the man whom I should one day love. So brave, so proud, 
so beautiful. Ah, it is so charming to be obliged to trem- 
ble before the man one loves; it is so sweet to cling to him 
and think: ‘I am nothing of myself, but all through thee! 
I am the ivy and thou the oak; thou wilt hold and sustain 
me, and if a storm-wind comes, thou wilt not waver, but 
stand firm and great in thy heroic strength, and protect 
me, and impart courage and confidence even to me!’” 

She loved him, and clung to him with boundless confi- 


THE WARNING. 431 


dence, but she was yet so full of tender maiden timidity 
that she could confess to him nothing of this love; and 
since that kiss she shyly avoided him, and constantly left 
his often-renewed love-questions unanswered. 

At this Alexis secretly laughed. “She will come 
round,” said he; “she will finally be compelled to it by her 
own feelings. I will give her time and leisure to come to a 
knowledge of herself!” 

And for some days he kept away from the villa, pre- 
tending pressing business, and left the poor isolated princess 
to her languishing love-dreams. 

It was precisely in these days that, on one forenoon, a 
carriage of indifferent appearance, adorned with no heraldic 
arms, stopped before the villa; a man closely enveloped in 
a mantle, his hat pressed deeply down over his forehead, 
issued from the carriage and rang the bell. 

Of the servant who answered the bell he hastily in- 
quired if the princess was at home and alone; these ques- 
tions being answered in the affirmative, and the servant 
having asked his name in order to announce him, the 
stranger said, almost in a commanding tone: “ The princess 
knows my name, and will gladly welcome me; therefore 
lead me directly to her !” 

“The princess receives no one,” said the servant, placing 
himself in a position to prevent the stranger’s entrance. 

“She will receive me,” said the unknown, dropping 
some gold-pieces into the servant’s hand. 

“T will conduct you to her,” said the suddenly mollified 
servant, but I do it on your own responsibility.” 

Princess Natalie was in her boudoir. She was alone, 


432 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


and thinking, in a languishing reverie, of her friend, who 
had now been two days absent. On hearing a light knock 
at the door, she sprang up from her seat. 

“Tt is he!” she murmured, and with glowing cheeks 
she hastened to the door. 

But on finding there a strange and closely-enveloped 
form, Natalie timidly drew back. 

The stranger entered, closing the door behind him, 
threw back his mantle and took off the hat that shaded his 
face. 

“Cardinal Bernis!” cried Natalie, with surprise. 

“‘ Ah, then you yet recognize me, princess!” said Bernis. 
“That is beautiful in you, and therefore you will not be 
angry with me for calling upon you unannounced. I knew 
that I should find you alone, and this was a too fortunate 
circumstance for me to let it pass unimproved. I must 
speak to you, princess, even at the hazard of proving tire- 
some.” 

Natalie said, with a soft smile: ‘“‘ You were the friend of 
Count Paulo, and therefore can never prove tiresome to me! 
I bid you welcome, cardinal!” 

“Tt is precisely because I was Count Paulo’s friend, that 
I have come!” said Bernis, seriously. ‘The count loved 
you, princess, and what I did not know at the time is 
known to me now. Because he loved and was devoted to 
you, he hazarded his life, and more than his life, his lib- 
erty.” 

“ And they have robbed him of that precious liberty,” 
sighed Natalie. “For his fidelity to me they have con- 
demned him to a shameful imprisonment!” 


THE WARNING. 433 


You know that!” exclaimed Bernis, with astonishment, 
“you know that, and nevertheless—” Then, interrupting 
himself, he broke off, and after a pause continued: “ Par- 
don me one question, and if you deem it indiscreet, please 
remember that it is put to you by an old man and a priest, 
and that his only object is, if possible to be useful to you. 
Do you love Count Paulo Rasczinsky ?” 

“T love him,” said she, “ as one loves a father. I shall 
always be grateful to him, and shall never esteem myself 
happy until I have liberated him and restored him to his 
country!” 

“You liberate him!” sadly exclaimed Bernis. “ Ah, 
then you know not, you do not once dream, that you are 
yourself surrounded by dangers, that your own liberty, in- 
deed your life itself, is threatened.” 

“T know it,” calmly responded the young maiden, “ but 
I also know that strong and powerful friends stand by my 
side, who will protect and defend me with their lives.” 

“But how if these friends are deceiving you—if pre- 
cisely they are your bitterest enemies and destroyers?” 

“Sir Cardinal!” exclaimed Natalie, reddening with in- 
dignation. 

“Oh, I may not anger you,” he continued, “but it is 
my duty to warn you, princess! They have undoubtedly 
deceived you with false pretensions, and in some deceitful 
way obtained your confidence. Tell me, princess, do you 
know the name of this count whom you daily receive 
here? ” 

“Tt is Count Alexis Orloff,” said the young maiden, 
blushing. 


434 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


“You know him, know his name, and yet you confide in 
him!” exclaimed the cardinal. “But it cannot be that 
you know his history: have you any idea to whom he is in- 
debted for his prosperity and greatness ?” 

“The Empress Catharine, his mistress,” said Natalie, 
without embarrassment. 

The cardinal looked, with increasing astonishment, into 
her calm, smiling face. “I now comprehend it all,” he 
then said; “they have laid a very shrewd and cunning 
plan. They have deceived you while telling you a part of 
the truth!” 

* No one has deceived me,” indignantly responded Nata- 
lie. “I tell you, Sir Cardinal, that Iam neither deceived 
nor overreached, easy as you seem to think it to deceive 
me!” 

“Qh, it is always easy to deceive innocence and noble- 
ness,” sadly remarked the cardinal. ‘“ Listen to me, prin- 
cess, and think, I conjure you, that this time a true and 
sincere friend is speaking to you.” 

“ And how shall I recognize that?” asked the young 
maiden, with a slight touch of irony. ‘“ How shall I recog- 
nize a friend, when, as you say, it is precisely my pretended 
friends who are my enemies!” 

“Recognize me by this!” said the cardinal, drawing a 
folded paper from his bosom and handing it to the princess. 

“That is Count Paulo’s handwriting!” she joyfully ex- 
claimed. 

“ Ah, you recognize the handwriting,” said the cardinal, 
“and you see that this letter is addressed tome. Count 
Paulo therefore considers me his friend!” 


THE WARNING. 435 


“‘ May I read this letter?” 

“T beg you to do so.” 

Natalie unfolded the letter and read: “ Warn the Prin- 
cess Tartaroff; danger threatens her!” 

“ That is all?” she asked with a smile. 

“ That is all!’ said the cardinal; * but when Paulo con- 
sidered these few words of sufficient importance to send 
them to me, you may well suppose they are of the utmost 
significance.” 

“ Count Paulo is in Siberia,” said Natalie, shaking her 
head ; “ how could he have written you from thence?” 

“ How he succeeded in doing so, I know not, but the 
firm, determined will of man often conquers supposed im- 
possibilities! Enough—in a mysterious, enigmatical man- 
mer was this letter put into the hands of our ambassador at 
St. Petersburg, with the most urgent prayer that he would 
immediately send it to me by a special courier, with all the 
necessary particulars.” 

“ And was that done?” asked Natalie. 

“Tt was done! I know why your life is threatened! 
Princess Tartaroff, you are the daughter of the Empress 
Elizabeth; and therefore it is that this Empress Catharine, 
upon her usurped throne, trembles with fear of you—there- 
fore was it that she said to her favorite: ‘Go, and deliver 
me from this troublesome pretender. But do it ina sly, 
cautious, and noiseless manner. Avoid attracting attention, 
murder her not, threaten her not; I wish not to give peo- 
ple new reasons for calling me a bloodthirsty woman En- 
tice her with flatteries into our net, induce her to follow 
you voluntarily, that the people of no country in which she 


436 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


may be may have an occasion to accuse us of using force.” 
Thus did Catharine speak to her favorite; he understood 
her and swore to execute her commands, as he did when 
Catharine ordered him to throttle her husband, the Em- 
peror Peter; as he also did when she ordered him to shoot 
_ poor Ivan, the son of Anna Leopoldowna, for the criminal 
reason that he had a greater right to the imperial crown of 
Russia than this little German princess of Zerbst! ” 

“And he shot that poor innocent Ivan?” shudderingly 
asked Natalie. “Ah, this Catharine is bloodthirsty as. 
a hyena, and her friends and favorites are hangmen’s sery- 
ants—ah, history will brand this murderer of Ivan!” 

“Tt will,” solemnly responded Cardinal Bernis, “and 
people will shudder when they hear the name of the man 
who strangled the Emperor Peter, who shot Ivan, and who, 
at the command of Catharine, has come to Italy to ensnare 
the noble and innocent Princess Tartaroff with cunning and 
flatteries and convey her to St. Petersburg. Shall I tell you 
this man’s name? He is called Alexis Orloff!” 

The young maiden sprang up from her seat, her eyes 
flashed, and her cheeks glowed. 

“That is false,” said she—“a shameful, malicious false- 
_ hood!” 

“Would to God it were so!” cried the cardinal. “But 
it is too true, princess! Oh, listen to me, and close not your 
ears to the truth. Remember that I am an old man, who 
has long observed men, and long studied life. I know this 
Russian diplomacy, and this Russian craft; they have in 
them something devilish; and these Russian diplomatists,, 
they poison and confound the shrewdest with their deceitful 


THE WARNING. 437 


smiles and infernal cunning. Guard yourself, princess, 
against this Russian diplomacy, and, above all things, be on 
your guard against this ambassador of the Russian empress, 
Alexis Orloff!” 

“ Ah, you dare to defame him!” cried the young maiden, 
trembling with anger. “You have, therefore, never seen 
him; you have never read in his noble face that Count 
Alexis Orloff can never betray. He is a hero, and a hero 
never descends toa murder! Ah,if the whole world should 
rise up against him, if it should point the finger at him and 
say: ‘That is a murderer!’ I would cry in the face of the 
whole world: ‘Thou liest! Alexis Orloff can never be a 
murderer! I know him better, and know that he is pure 
and clear of every crime. You may continue to call him a 
betrayer! I know why he suffers himself to be so called! I 
know the secret of his conduct, and a day will come when 
you will all learn it; when you will all feel compelled to fall 
down at his feet and confess, “ Alexis Orloff is no false be- 
trayer!” For the sake of her to whom he has vowed fidelity 
has he borne this shame. For her whom he loved has he 
staked his blood and his life! Alexis Orloff is a hero!’” 

She was strangely beautiful while speaking with such 
spirit and animation. The cardinal observed her noble and 
excited features with an admiration mingled with the most 
painful emotions. 

“ Poor child!” he murmured, dropping his head—* poor 
child, she loves him, and is therefore lost!” 

“You, then, do not believe me?” he asked aloud. 

“No,” said she, with a glad smile—“ no, all the happi- 
ness I ever expect, all the good that may hereafter come 


438 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


to me, I shall receive only from the hands of Alexis Or- 
loff !” 

“Poor child!” sighed the cardinal. “In many a case 
even death may prove a blessing!” 

“Then will I also joyfully receive even that from his 
hands!” cried the young maiden, with enthusiasm. 

“Tt is in vain, she is not to be helped!” murmured the 
cardinal, with a melancholy shake of the head, and, grasping 
the hand of the young maiden, with a compassionate glance 
at her fair face, he continued: “I would gladly aid you, and 
thereby expiate the evil you once suffered at my festival! 
But you will not consent to be aided. You rush to your 
destruction, and it is your noblest qualities, your inno- 
cence, and your generous confidence, which are prepar- 
ing your ruin! May God bless you and preserve you! 
How glad I should be to find myself a liar and ,false 
prophet!” 

“ And you will so find yourself!” exclaimed Natalie. 

“You believe it, because you are in love, and when a 
woman loves she believes in the object of her love, and smil- 
ingly offers up her life for him! Like all women, you will 
do so! You will sacrifice your life to your love; and when 
this barbarian thrusts the dagger in your heart, you will say 
with a smile: ‘I did it! I, myself—’” 

And, bowing to her with a sad smile, slowly and sighing, 
the cardinal left the room. | 

Some hours later came Alexis Orloff. Natalie received 
him with an expression of the purest pleasure, and, extend- 
ing both hands to him, smilingly said : 

“ Know you yet what my mother said to her lover?” 


THE WARNING. 439 


Looking at her, he read his happiness in her face. With 
an exclamation of ecstasy he fell at her feet. 

“J know it well, but you, Natalie, do you also know it?” 
he passionately asked. 

Natalie smiled. ‘“ Alexis,” said she, “I love you, and 
therefore will I raise you to my side as my husband!” and 
with a charming modest blush she drew the count up to her 
arms. 

“You do not deceive me, and this is no dream?” he 
cried, while glowingly embracing her. 

“No,” said she, “it is the truth, and I owe you this satis- 
faction. You have been slandered to me to-day. Ah, they 
shall see how little I believe them. Alexis, call a priest to 
bless our union, and make me your wife. Whatever then 
may come, we will share it with each other. If I am one 
day empress, you will be the emperor, and I will always 
honor and obey you as my lord and master.” 

On the evening of this day a very serious and solemn 
ceremony took place in the boudoir of Princess Natalie. An 
altar wreathed with flowers stood in the centre of the room, 
and before the altar stood Natalie in a white satin robe, the 
myrtle-crown upon her head, the long bridal veil waving 
around her delicate form. She was very beautiful in her 
joyful, modest emotion, and Count Alexis Orloff, who, in a 
rich Russian costume stood by her side, viewed her with 
ecstatic and warm desiring glances. The inhuman execu- 
tioner led the lamb to the slaughter without pity or com- 
punction ! 

At the other side of the altar stood the priest, a reverend 
old man, with long flowing silver hair and beard. Near 


440 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


him the sacristan, not less reverend in appearance. No one 
else was present except Marianne, who, in tears, knelt behind 
her mistress, and with folded hands prayed for her beloved 
princess, who was now marrying Count Alexis Orloff. 

The solemn ceremony was at an end, and the young 
wife sank weeping into the arms of her husband, who, with 
tenderest whisperings, led her into the next room. 

Marianne, overcome by her tears and emotions, hastened 
to her own room, and the reverend priest remained alone 
with his sacristan. 

They silently looked at each other, and their faces were 
distorted by a knavish, grinning laugh. 

“Tt was a wonderful scene,” said the priest, who was no 
other than Joseph Ribas. “In earnest, I was quite affected 
by it myself, and I came near weeping at my own sublime 
homily. Confess, Stephano, that a consecrated priest could 
not have better gone through the ceremony.” 

“We have both performed our parts,” simpered Ste- 
phano, the sacristan, “and I think the count must be satis- 
fied with us.” 

At that moment the count returned to the room. WNat- 
alie had begged to be left alone—she needed solitude and 
prayer. 

The priest, Joseph Ribas, and the sacristan, Stephano, 
gave him sly, interrogating glances. 

“JT am satisfied with you,” said Orloff, with a smile. 
“You are both excellent actors. This new little countess 
was pleased and touched by your discourse, Joseph, my 
very worthy priest. Where did you learn this new vil- 
Jainy?” 


THE WARNING. 44] 


“In the high school of the galleys, your excellency,” 
said Ribas. “Only there is one taught such precious 
things. We had a priest there, a real consecrated priest, 
who was sentenced for life. From ennui he gave lessons 
to the smartest among us in his art, and taught us how to 
fold the hands, roll the eyes, and render the voice tremu- 
lous. But now, your excellency, one thing! You desired 
to know who it was that warned your princess to-day. I 
can now give you information on that point. It was the 
French Cardinal Bernis!” 

“They are, therefore, beginning to observe our moye- 
ments,” thoughtfully remarked Orloff, “and these gentle- 
men diplomatists wish to take a hand in the game. Ah, we 
understand the French policy. It is the same now that it 
was when they helped to make the Princess Elizabeth em- 
press. At that time they interposed, that Russia might be 
so occupied with her own affairs as to have no time for 
looking into those of France. Precisely so is it to-day. 
They would compassionate the daughter as they did the 
mother. With the help of Natalie they would again bless 
Russia with a revolution, that we might not have time to 
observe the events now fermenting in France. But this 
time we shall be more cautious, my shrewd French cardinal. 
Stephano, let every preparation be made for our immediate 
departure. We are no longer safe and unobserved here. 
Therefore we will go to Leghorn.” 

“We alone, or with the princess ?” asked Stephano. 

“My wife will naturally accompany me,” said Orloff, 
with a derisive smile. 


“ Will she consent to leave Rome?” asked Joseph Ribas. 
29 


442 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


“T shall request her to do so,” proudly replied Orloff, 
“and I think my request will be a command to her.” 

And the proud count was not mistaken. His request 
was a command for her. He told her she must leave Rome 
because she was no longer in safety there, and Princess 
Natalie believed him. 

“ We will go to Leghorn, and there await the arrival of 
the Russian fleet,” said he. “When that fleet shall have 
safely arrived, then our ends will be attained, then we shall 
have conquered, for then it will be evident that the empress 
has conceived no suspicion; and I am the commander of 
that fleet, which is wholly manned with conspirators who 
all await you as their empress. Will you follow me to Leg- 
horn, Natalie ?” 

She clung with tender submissiveness to his bosom. 

“T will follow you everywhere,” murmured she, “and 
any place to which you conduct me will be a paradise for 
me!” 





CHAPTER XLVI. 


THE RUSSIAN FLEET. 


UNSUSPECTINGLY had she followed Orloff to Leghorn; 
full of devoted tenderness, full of glowing love, she was only 
anxious to fulfil all his wishes and to constantly afford him 
new proofs of her-affection. 

And how? Did he not deserve that love? Was he not 
constantly paying her the most delicate attentions? Was 
he not always as humbly submissive as he was tender? Did 


THE RUSSIAN FLEET. 443 


it not seem as if the lion was subdued, that the Hercules 
was tamed, by his tender Omphale, whom he adored, at 
whose feet he lay for the purpose of looking into her eyes, 
to read in them her most secret thoughts and wishes? 

She was not only his wife, she was also his empress. 
Such he called her, as such he respected her, and surrounded 
her with more than imperial splendor. 

The house of the English Consul Dyke was changed 

into an imperial palace for Natalie, and the young and 
beautiful wife of the consul was her first lady of honor. 
She established a court for the young imperial princess, she 
surrounded her with numerous servants and a splendid 
train of attendants whose duty it was to follow the illustri- 
ous young empress everywhere, and never to leave her! 
- And Natalie suspected not that this English consul re- 
ceived from the Empress of Russia a million of silver ru- 
bles, and that his wife was rewarded with a costly set of 
brilliants for the hospitality shown to this Russian princess, 
which was so well calculated to deceive not only Natalie 
herself, but also the European courts whose attention had 
been aroused. Natalie suspected not that her splendid 
train, her numerous servants—that all these who apparently 
viewed her as their sublime mistress, were really nothing 
more than spies and jailors, who watched her every step, 
her every word, her every glance. Poor child, she suspected 
nothing! They honored and treated her as an empress, and 
she believed them, smiling with delight when the people of 
Leghorn—whenever she with her splendid retinue appeared 
at her husband’s side—shouted with every demonstration of 
respect for her as an empress. 


444 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


And finally, one day, the long-expected Russian fleet ar- 
rived ! 

Radiant with joy, Alexis Orloff rushed into Natalie’s 
apartment. 

“We have now attained our end,” said he, dropping 
upon one knee before his wife; “I can now in truth greet 
you as my empress and mistress! Natalie, the Russian fleet 
is here, and only waits to convey you in triumph to your 
empire, to the throne that is ready for you, to your people 
who are languishing for your presence! Ah, you are now 
really an empress, and marvellous will you be when the im- 
perial crown encircles your noble head !” 

“T shall be an empress,” said Natalie, “ but you, Alexis, 
will always be my lord and emperor!” 

‘“‘ Natalie,” continued the count, “your people call for’ 
you !—your soldiers languish for you, the sailors of all these 
ships direct their eyes to the shore where their empress lin- 
gers. The admiral’s ship will be splendidly adorned for 
your reception, and Admiral Gluck will be the first to pay 
homage to you. Therefore adorn yourself, my charming, 
beautiful empress—adorn yourself, and show yourself to 
your faithful subjects in all the magnificence of your im- 
perial position. Ah, it will be a wonderful and intoxicating 
festival when you celebrate the first day of your greatness!” 

And Count Orloff called her attendants. Smiling, per- 
fectly happy at seeing the pleasure and satisfaction of her 
husband, Natalie suffered herself to be adorned, to be en- 
veloped in that costly gold-embroidered robe, those pearls 
and diamonds, that sparkling diadem, those chains and 
bracelets. 


THE RUSSIAN FLEET. AAS 


She was dressed, she was ready! With a charming 
smile she gave her hand to her husband, who viewed her 
with joyous glances, and loudly praised the beauty of her 
celestial countenance. 

“They will be enchanted with the sight of you,” said he. 

Natalie smilingly said: “ Let them be so! I am only 
happy when I please you!” 

In an open carriage, attended by her retinue, she pro- 
ceeded to the haven, and all the people who thronged the 
streets shouted in honor of the beautiful princess, astonished 
at the splendor by which she was surrounded, and estimat- 
ing Count Orloff a very happy man to be the husband of 
such an empress ! 

And when she appeared upon the shore, when the car- 
riages stopped and Princess Natalie rose from her seat, 
there arose from all the ships the thousand-voiced cheers 
of their crews. Russian flags waved from eyery spar, can- 
non thundered and drums rolled, and all shouted: “ Hail 
to the imperial princess! Hail, Natalie, the daughter of 
Elizabeth !” 

It was a proud, an intoxicating moment, and Natalie’s 
eyes were filled with tears. Trembling with proud ecstasy, 
she was compelled to lean upon Orloff’s arm to preserve 
herself from falling. 

“No weakness now!” said he, and for the first time his 
voice sounded harsh and rough. Surprised, she glanced at 
him—there was something in his face that she did not un- 
derstand ; there was something wild and disagreeable in the 
expression of his features, and he avoided meeting her 
glance. 


446 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


He looked over to the ships. “See,” said he, “ they are 
letting down the great boat; Admiral Gluck himself is 
coming for you. And see that host of gondolas, that fol- 
low the admiral’s boat! All his officers are coming to do 
homage to you, and when you, in their company, reach the 
admiral’s ship, they will let down the golden arm-chair to 
take you on board. ‘That is an honor they pay only to per- 
sons of imperial rank!” — 

Her glance passed by all these unimportant things; she 
saw only his face; she thoughtfully and sadly asked herself 
what change had come over Alexis, and what was the mean- 
ing of his half-shy, half-angry appearance. 

The boats came, to the shore, and now came the admiral 
with his officers; prostrating themselves before her, they 
paid homage to this beautiful princess, whom they hailed as 
their mistress. 

Natalie thanked them with a fascinating smile; and, 
graciously giving her hand to the admiral, suffered herself 
to be assisted by him into the great boat. 

As soon as her foot touched it, the cannon thundered, 
flags were waved on all the ships, and their crews shouted, 
“Viva Natalie of Russia!” 

‘Her eyes sought Orloff, who, with a scowling brow and 
gloomy features, was still standing on the shore. 

“Count Alexis Orloff!” cried she, with her silvery voice, 
“we await you!” 

But Alexis came not at her call. He hastily sprang 
into an officer’s boat, without giving her even a look. 

“ Alexis !” she anxiously cried. 

“ He follows us, your highness,” whispered the wife of 


THE RUSSIAN FLEET. 444 


Consul Dyke, while taking her place near the princess. 
“Tt would be contrary to etiquette for him to appear at the 
side of the empress at this moment. See, he is close behind 
us, in the second gondola!” 

“Shove off!” cried Admiral Gluck, he himself taking 
the rudder in honor of the empress. 

The boats moved from the land. First, the admiral’s 
boat, with the princess, the admiral, and the English- 
woman; and then, in brilliant array, the innumerable 
crowd of adorned gondolas containing the officers of the 
fleet. 

It was a magnificent sight. The people who crowded 
the shore could not sufficiently admire the splendid spec- 
tacle. 

When they reached the admiral’s ship the richly-gilded 
arm-chair was let down for Natalie’s reception. She 
tremblingly rose from her seat—a strange, inexplicable fear 
came over her, and she anxiously glanced around for Orloff. 
He sat in the second boat, not far from her, but he looked 
not toward her, not even for,a moment, and upon his lips 
there was a wild, triumphant smile. 

“ Princess, they wait for you; seat yourself in the arm- 
chair!” said Madame Dyke, in a tone which to Natalie 
seemed to have nothing of the former humility and devo- 
tion—all seemed to her to be suddenly changed, all! Shud- 
deringly she took her seat in the swinging chair—but, 
nevertheless, she took it. 

The chair was drawn up, the cannon thundered anew, 
the flags were waved, and again shouted the masses of peo- 
ple on the shore. . 


448 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS, 


Suddenly it seemed as if, amid the shouts of joy and the 
thundering of the cannon, a shriek of terror was heard, 
loud, penetrating, and heartrending. What was that? 
What means that tumult upon the deck of the admiral’s 
ship? Seems it not as if they had roughly seized this 
princess whose feet had just now touched the ship? as if 
they had grasped her, as if she resisted, stretching her 
arms toward heaven? and hark, now this frightful cry, this 
heart-rending scream ! 

Shuddering and silent stand the people upon the shore, 
staring at the ships. And the cannon are silenced, the 
flags are no longer waved, all is suddenly still. 

Once more it seems as if that voice was heard, loudly 
shrieking the one name—“ Alexis!” 

Trembling and quivering, Alexis Orloff orders his boat 
to return to the shore! 

In the admiral’s ship all is now still. The princess is no 
longer on the deck. She has disappeared! The people on 
shore maintained that they had seen her loaded with chains 
and then taken away! Where? 

All was still. The boats returned to the shore. Count 
Orloff gave his hand to the handsome Madame Dyke, to as- 
sist her in landing. 

“To-morrow, madame,” he whispered, “I will wait 
upon you with the thanks of my empress. You have ren- 
dered us an essential service.” . 

The people at the landing received them with howls, 
hisses, and curses!—but Count Orloff, with a contemptu- 
ous smile, strewed gold among them, and their clamors 
ceased. 


CONCLUSION. 449 


Tranquil and still lay the Russian fleet in the haven. 
But the ports of the admiral’s ship were opened, and the 
yawning cannon peeped threateningly forth. No boats 
were allowed to approach the ship; but some, impelled by 
curiosity, nevertheless ventured it, and at the cabin window 
they thought they saw the pale princess wringing her 
hands, her arms loaded with chains. Others also asserted 
that in the stillness of the night they had heard loud lam- 
entations coming from the admiral’s ship. 

On the next day the Russian fleet weighed anchor for 
St. Petersburg! Proudly sailed the admiral’s ship in ad- 
vance of the others, and soon became invisible in the 
horizon. 

On the shore stood Count Alexis Orloff, and, as he saw 
the ships sailing past, with a savage smile he muttered: 
“Tt is accomplished ! my beautiful empress will be satisfied 
with me!” 


CHAPTER XLVII. 


CONCLUSION. 


SHE was satisfied, the great, the sublime empress—satis- 
fied with the work Alexis Orloff had accomplished, and 
with the manner in which it was done. 

In the presence of her confidential friends she permitted 
Orloff’s messenger, Joseph Ribas, to relate to her all the 
particulars of the affair from the commencement to the 
end, and to the narrator she nodded her approval with a 
fell smile. 


450 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


“Yes,” said she to Gregory Orloff, “we understand 
women’s hearts, and therefore sent Alexis to entrap her. 
A handsome man is the best jailer for a woman, from 
whom she never runs away.” And, bending nearer to 
Gregory’s ear, she whispered : “I, myself, your empress, am 
almost your prisoner, you wicked, handsome man! ” 

And ravished by the beauty of Gregory Orloff, the third 
in the ranks of her recognized favorites, the empress leaned 
upon his arm, whispering words of tenderness in his ear. 

* And what does your sublime majesty decide upon re- 
specting your prisoner ?”” humbly asked Joseph Ribas. 

“Oh, I had almost forgotten her,” said the empress, 
with indifference. ‘She is, then, yet living, this so-called 
daughter of Elizabeth ?” 

“She is yet alive.” 

The empress for some time thoughtfully walked back 
and forth, occasionally turning her bold eagle eye upon her 
two favorite pictures, hanging upon the wall. They were 
battle-pieces from Casanova’s master-hand — battle-pieces 
full of terrible truth; they displayed the running blood, 
the trembling flesh, the rage of the opponents, and the 
death-groans of the defeated. Such were the pictures loved 
by Catharine, and the sight of which always inspired her 
with bold thoughts. 

As she now glanced at these sanguinary pictures, a 
pleasant smile drew over the face of this Northern Semir- 
amis. She had just come to a decision, and, being content 
with it, expressed her satisfaction by a smile. 

“That bleeding feminine torso,” said she, pointing to 
one of the pictures, “look at it, Gregory, that wonderful 


CONCLUSION. 451 


feminine back reminds me of the vengeance Elizabeth took 
for the beauty of Eleonore Lapuschkin. Well, Elizabeth’s 
pretended daughter shall find me teachable; I will learn 
from her mother how to punish. Let this criminal be con- 
ducted to the same place where the fair Lapuschkin suf- 
fered, and as she was served so serve Elizabeth’s daughter ! 
Only the knout may be swung a little more powerfully. 
We have no desire to tear out the tongue of this child. 
Whip her, that is all, but whip her well and effectually. 
You understand me?” 

And while she said this, that animated smile deserted 
not Catharine’s lips for a moment, and her features con- 
stantly displayed the utmost cheerfulness. 

“T think,” said she, turning to Gregory, “ that is bring- 
ing an expiatory offering to the fair Eleonore Lapuschkin, 
and we here exercise justice in the name of God!—As to 
you,” she then said to Joseph Ribas, “ we have reason to be 
satisfied with you, and you shall not go without your re- 
ward. Moreover, our beloved Alexis Orloff has especially 
recommended you to us, and spoken very spy of your 
information and talents. You shall be satisfi 


It was a dark and duendfully cold eae St. ae 
slept; the streets were deserted and silent. But there, 


* Joseph Ribas was rewarded by the empress with the place of an 
officer and teacher in the corps of cadets. Afterward, upon the recom- 
mendation of Betzkoi, he was made the tutor of Bobrinsky, one of the 
sons of the empress by Gregory Orloff. ‘He accompanied Bobrinsky 
in all his travels,” says Massen, “and inoculated the prince with all the 
terrible vices he himself possessed.” At a later period, as we have 
already said, he became an admiral and a favorite of Potemkin, the 
fourth of Catharine’s lovers. 


452 THE DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS. 


upon the place where Elizabeth once caused the beautiful 
Lapuschkin to be tortured, there torches glanced, there 
dark forms were moving to and fro, there a mysterious life 
was stirring. What was being done there? 

No spectators are to-night assembled around these bar- 
riers. Catharine has commanded all St. Petersburg to 
sleep at this hour, and accordingly it slept. Nobody is 
upon the place—nobody but the cold, unfeeling execution- 
ers and their assistants—nobody but that pale, feeble, and 
shrunken woman, who, in her slight white dress, kneels at 
the feet of her executioners. She yet lives, it is true, but 
her soul has long since fled, her heart has long been broken. 
The chains and tortures of her imprisonment have done 
that for her. It was Alexis Orloff who murdered Natalie’s 
heart and soul. For him had she wept until her tears had 
been exhausted—for him had she lamented until her voice 
had become extinct. She now no longer weeps, no longer 
complains; glancing at her executioners, she smiles, and, 
raising her hands to God, she thanks him that at last she is 
about to die. 

She is yet praying when her executioners approach and 
roughly raise her up, when they tear off her light robe, and 
devour with their brutal eyes her noble naked form. 
Her soul is with God, to whom she yet prays. But when 
they would rend from her bosom the chain to which 
Paulo’s papers are attached, she shudders, her eyes flash, 
and she holds the papers in her convulsively clinched 
hands. 

“JT have sworn to defend them with my life!” she ex- 
claims aloud. “ Paulo, Paulo, I will keep my word!” 








CONCLUSION. - 453 


And with the boldness of a lioness she defends herself 
against her executioners. 

“Leave her those papers!” commanded Joseph Ribas 
who was present by order of the empress. “She may keep 
them now—they will directly be ours!” 

“Oh, Paulo, I have kept the promise I made thee!” 
murmured Natalie. She then implores to be allowed to 
read them, and Joseph Ribas grants her the desired permis- 
sion. 

With trembling hands she breaks the seal and reads by 
the light of a torch held up for her. A melancholy smile 
flits over her features, and her arms fall powerless. 

“ Ah, they are the proofs of my imperial descent, noth- 
ing further. How little is that, Paulo!” 

And now lifting her up, they raise her high upon the 
backs of the executioners. 

The knout whistles as it whirls through the air, the 
noble blood flows in streams. She makes no complaint, 
she prays. Only once, overcome by pain, only once she 
loudly screams: “ Mercy, mercy for the daughter of an em- 
press!” 


(40) 


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